Triangles and Tribulations
by dooder's nin
Summary: When a mysterious and dangerous threat is leveled against the ancient de Nile heritage, Cleo and the others retreat to a secluded resort town on vacation in the hopes of avoiding any major disasters. These include those referring to relationships, as Frankie comes to grips with the triangle she seems to have found herself in between the two halves of the same boy.


An upcoming break in the school year typically meant that there were going to be plans for the extreme in relaxation, or the total opposite in pursuing opportunities for adventure. However, the usual mood that built up as such a break approached was not quite the same for Cleo as very rarely does a summons from The Mummy himself lead one to leaving with an exuberant attitude, if leaving is an immediate option for the two sisters who had such a summons. While neither of them had currently an overwhelming issue with the other, Cleo and Nefera would have preferred to spend as little an amount of time with one another as possible. This was especially so after having been a part of rather disastrous festival at the high school not more than a few days ago.

"You first." Cleo said as they stood outside their father's study. Nefera looked sideways at her, "As much as you're showing improvement in recognizing this fact, I'm sure this is your fault so, after you" she responded with a flourish of her hand. Cleo huffed at her sister but walked in to see their father sitting and clearly waiting for them to enter.

"I've called you both here not to speak about any of your actions, but something that, as a ruler, I should have never let slide to the background; your safety." He began, raising his hand to stop Nefera from interrupting what he had to say. "The festivities last week were well coordinated by the two of you and you should be grateful that fire elemental boy managed to set alight the firecrackers earlier than expected."

"And why would Heath's spectacle be something to congratulate him on? He does something like that on a daily basis, except this time he cost us the floats that were being built as fundraisers for the clubs." Cleo growled. Nefera crossed her arms and added, "It's not as though that mattered anyway. But it did jeopardize my chances of gaining the top position with the fashion coordinators that came as judges for the festival. Not that I couldn't overcome that…"

"You got the job, so why do you feel the need to complain? Some self-esteem worries?" goaded Cleo, frustrated with how her sister always attempts to draw attention to herself even when Cleo was the one to be credited – especially when she managed to turn a situation into something their father would then side with or praise Nefera for her princess qualities.

"Enough!" commanded The Mummy, pounding his hand on the armrest of his throne. "Neither of you realize the true extent of what happened that day." He rubbed a hand on his forehead, composing himself before delivering the news to his daughters. The girls recognized this behavior as preceding something of absolute seriousness, different from any other situation that he mediated or commanded for them.

"While I do not have the same empire as thousands of years ago, the time in the tombs was not an idle period for those who opposed me. There are always competitors in the way I conduct my business, and quite recently they have become more brazen in their attacks to make known their intentions. Usually there are underhanded efforts that cause setbacks, but…."

"Who are these opponents?" interrupted Cleo. She got a look from her sister that was both incredulous and possibly a combination of pity. _How could she be so ignorant?_ \- Nefera thought. "There are other mummies in the world, not just Egyptian." She told her, understanding that her sister really was content with the way things were as she thought.

"I know that, but even the normies associate the brilliance of our kind with Egypt…"

"Exactly" her father said, "And those other mummies are always looking to expand their notoriety and presence in both the monster and "normie" world. Making sure that there is a cost that I will not be able to pay is one way of doing so." He spoke with a direct look into the eyes of his daughters.

"By making a scene at a Monster High's festival…?" Cleo suspiciously asked. "And what about the firecrackers?"

"They weren't just firecrackers. While the servants were cleaning up and treating the others who had been too close and got singed, they noticed that there was a fuse that connected to an even more explosive, more corrosive element to the burned areas. This element was very familiar as residual of an amulet that would have sought out similar magic, namely you two, if they had been set off at sunset and in order as planned."

"Oh my…" Cleo couldn't even finish her exclamation as she brought a hand up to her mouth. Nefera also was speechless, a fact that normally Cleo would revel in, yet couldn't do anything at the moment. "How did it get there?" Nefera asked once composed.

"Because it had been damaged by that elemental's fire…" their father began.

"Heath" supplied Cleo for her father.

"…Heath's fire, it couldn't be determined for sure if it was another Egyptian mummy's amulet who had been bought out to do such a thing within its own ranks, or if possibly a Hittite or even Nubian amulet. Either way, this upcoming break will be different than anything you had planned."

"So we're just going to sit around the pyramid all break?" asked Cleo.

"What about my new job? I can't just _not_ go. It may actually be my last chance to be a model." Nefera begged her father, surprising Cleo with the sincerity in her voice at her admission of her previous blame in the last failed attempt at modeling.

"No, neither of you will be sitting around here. Here is the last place where I want you if there is indeed a mole. Like magic finds like magic, and to stay here would make you both incredibly tempting, easy targets like myself." The Mummy said, standing and turning towards his desk with its clutter of papyrus and other tomes. He picked up two thick envelopes and faced toward his daughters again.

Handing one to Nefera, he told her, "You will be going about your new job as though you know absolutely nothing about this attack. A deviance in our schedules will alert whoever did this and might provoke another, more unpredictable and random attack that I will not be able to pick up on until too late, like this one." He sighed, clearly upset. "There is all the documentation you will need to go abroad and stay in the places that I have set up with the usual servants and security personnel that you won't see. There is a smaller envelope inside with a powder and directions you must follow to ensure your safety. Money is also in there in case there should be a reason I cannot immediately send you funds. If you do need to contact me for a regular conversation, use your iCoffin like normal, but the bronze mirror for emergencies. Be careful what you do put out with your phone, as anything could be used to get at you." He concluded, handing her the mirror.

Nefera took the mirror and raised an eyebrow. While elaborate like most other things in the de Nile household, it was a small, slightly curved bronze sheet with two winged women facing each other to serve as its handle. Colored brightly despite the lack of gold, it was still no mirror. "This isn't exactly a mirror daddy," she said, "this is a makeup palette that hasn't been used in millennia." She looked at him for an explanation while Cleo snickered at the thought of Nefera having ever used such an archaic cosmetic piece. Even she knew that this particular style had been out of fashion before them.

"Yes, but reflective enough to work with the enchantment placed on it to serve as a mirror. Besides, you used to like it when you were younger. Those smudges that the servants weren't able to get out are from your early attempts with eyeliner." He smirked at her. He was a pharaoh, yes, but still a father who had no qualms with teasing his daughters whenever he could.

Cleo laughed aloud this time, as Nefera's eyes comically widened and her mouth opened and closed. _Speechless twice in one day_, Cleo thought, convinced her father must be treating her. He turned to her with the other envelope, beginning with his instructions to her.

"You have the same instructions about communication and safety procedures, but I'm also sending you on a lavish trip over break with several of your friends. I may not approve, but more people around you means more buffers."

"Ugh!" huffed Cleo, knowing immediately which of her friends to whom he was referring. But at least Deuce could go if he got permission to travel. Thinking on that, "Where exactly am I supposed to be going? Am I supposed to travel with Nefera to…" she trailed off, looking at the papers Nefera had in her hand, "to Scaris?! Seriously, that's where you're working now?" she redirected her question to her sister.

"Not immediately; just a stopover to meet with designers who won't leave their studios to report the upcoming style trends my bosses favor. Not something royalty does, playing messenger, but I suppose you're still jealous." She said, regaining her usual attitude regarding her sister; _at least some normalcy returned_, Cleo thought.

The Mummy smirked and answered Cleo, "Not exactly what you were hoping for either I expect, but no mirror for you. Instead, a nice wilderness excursion is for you. The forest park of southern Massachusetts; a historic site for monsters that is something different that you might enjoy."

This time it was Nefera snickering as Cleo looked at the pamphlet her father handed her. It read:

**The Taunton Triangle: an isolated escape for cryptids and monsters of all kinds to relax in simplicity and enjoy the natural amenities the land has to offer. Included on site are mineral spas, athletic tracks, picnic and hiking areas, self-guided and guided tours into the nearby historic town and/or water tours of "Devil Swamp". Enjoy our new recreational feature of a completely automated aerial tour of the forest on state-of-the-art Gremlin GustsTM hover-planes.**

She read the rest of her instructions to contact her father and then looked at how many tickets had been booked for her and whomever she could convince to give up civilization for the next week.

"But why do I have to go into exile while Nefera goes about with her plans? Why here?" she whined. Her father just gave her a look that she had learned meant not to question any further his decision or else. He returned to his study room throne and answered her, "Because this area has a natural electromagnetic energy triangle over it in much the same way as the Bermuda triangle. It's something monsters have found to be both a protection from the less desirable versions of normies and monsters that may or may not have certain magical devices that could be used with malicious intent. It won't keep them out, but it'll make the devices harder to use." He then softened his look, something only done for his daughters. But before he continued, Cleo asked, "But why this triangle? No one has heard of it."

The Mummy responded with an amused tone to his voice, "Because it is something you would want to visit, to make it your triangle. The others may be noticeable for a de Nile, but this one is in need of your leadership and design expertise." He knew that this was goading his daughter into accepting willfully that this place would have to do. Not that he would change his plan anyway. "Besides," he added "it is far easier to keep a watch on that area rather than ones more heavily traversed. There will still be a large amount of people there, but more manageable for me and my court to deal with in addition to watching Nefera, track this attacker, and continue with normal business. That's why you will have your friends with you."

Cleo sighed and knew this was something she would just have to make the best of and take her father's less than subtle suggestions. The Mummy looked to the two of them and motioned for them to come to him. He gave them each an affectionate hug, getting up off his throne twice during this discussion as evidence of the worry for them. After which, he returned to his desk and the sisters knew that the discussion was over, walking back out the heavy doors the servants had opened from them from their position in the hallway. Nefera didn't give her sister any sort of goodbye, turning down one corridor and leaving Cleo to look through the rest of her envelope. Pamphlets, communication instructions and safety warnings, notice of where the servants that were to look after her from a distance were to be in case of emergency…and 10 tickets. She gasped at that number. Her father hadn't been kidding when he said that she was to go with a large group. Now all she had to do was to figure out whom should she take?

* * *

Heath and Jackson were enjoying lunch together and talking while waiting for Deuce and Clawd to eventually show up. Like usual, Heath was talking about how he and Abbey were definitely an item, not that there was ever any doubt in the fire elementals' mind that he would succeed in getting her attention. Jackson normally would nod in the right places and make a few remarks that his cousin would likely not really hear. He did like to spend time with him, thankful that they could get to know one another after having spent a significant portion of their childhood only meeting up at briefly, mainly at family get-togethers, due to his father's work and research moving them around a lot. But today, he was just so tired. His efforts to get closer with Frankie left him in a confused state – she said she liked him and was waiting for him to pull himself together as best as a dual-natured person could, but that left him only to spend any time with her when with her friends. This irked him to no end- even his not-so-observant cousin could tell that much- but Holt tended to take this frustration out in more boisterous ways that left Jackson feeling under the weather. Sharing the same body meant that Holt's efforts to make Franke want to spend time with him had Jackson feeling the exhaustion that came with lack of rest. So naturally, Jackson wasn't able to completely get over this "normie" cold. Heath was sympathetic to some extent, but Deuce was the only one willing to let him complain. Typically Jackson was the one to give advice, but Deuce's mother was pretty good with those old Greek remedies.

"So I figured that with only a few days left before the break, I should be able to get in at least one of the teacher's good graces after the damage done to the building. At least my family didn't have to pay for it. Wonder why though…" Heath said around a bite of hamburger. Finishing it off, he looked a little disappointed that his meal was finished before he was ready. Deuce and Clawd finally sat down with the two of them and Clawd laughed a little at Heath's look, knowing what it meant immediately. "Always thinking about more food. And I thought we werewolves were supposed to be the ravenous monsters. I don't get it man." He said to Heath, shaking his head. Deuce just chuckled as Heath shrugged and attempted to steal something off of Clawd's plate. Attempting, but not succeeding in taking something away from him, leaving Heath to shout out, "Oh come on! Just one fry, or two…"

Jackson pushed his tray toward his cousin. "Here. I can't eat. I'm hungry, but can't get myself to eat." Heath took his cousin's tray and looked at him a little sideways. "Not that I'm going to refuse, but everything okay with you?"

"You do look a little worse for wear." Deuce added into the conversation. Jackson just gave the barest of nods, swaying slightly at the movement. He took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes to try and clear things up for himself. Deuce put a hand on his shoulder. "Whoa. I thought you were over this cold already. I don't know how non-monster health works, but this seems like it's taking forever. Aren't your parents making sure you get, I don't know, sleep and whatever else normies need?"

Jackson yawned and answered, "My parents just left for a conference my dad has to attend. It likely is going to run right through the break, but I managed to convince them I could stay on my own. Not an easy feat to accomplish given my other side's lack of any responsibility. But they probably figured I'd stay home most of the time or go over to Heath's." he broke again into a yawn he barely was able to cover before continuing. "As for normie colds, I've only had this for a few days. They can sometimes last a week or more depending on the cold." He shrugged and then folded his arms on the table to act as a pillow for the rest of the lunch period.

"Didn't know normies could be so fragile." Clawd said in an attempt to bring some lighthearted humor into this predicament. Making quick work of Jackson's lunch, Heath commented, "Maybe letting Holt out might help speed things up a bit." Jackson looked up from the table and nearly growled at Heath, "Because the first thing _he'll_ look to do is find a nice, quiet, secluded spot to take a nap. I know you prefer to hang out with him, but for now, you're stuck with _me_!" he stood up from the table, swaying again a little, and stormed out of the creepateria. Heath just stared after him, as did plenty of others in the room. That was not like the usual calm, polite, and kind man they knew. That outburst was more like Hyde than Jekyll, and somewhat concerning given the first Jekyll/Hyde history.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Deuce turned to ask Heath. Jackson was well aware of the fact that many monsters took the time to remind him of his normie status among the monsters, even asking on occasion for Holt specifically to take over something Jackson was more than capable of performing as himself or inviting Holt to a party through Jackson's invitation. Equal time for both halves was Jackson's and Holt's goal, but Jackson felt like more often it was equal time for everyone else to spend with Holt. He had said as much to his friends, confiding especially in Deuce, but Jackson never really blew up at his friends like that before. His anger was more of the quiet kind, which his friends found slightly more disturbing than when Holt just shouted out everything.

"I don't know." Heath managed to stutter out to his friends. "I think he might really be sick. I should follow him." Heath started to stand, but Clawd grabbed his arm and pulled him back down to the bench. "Right now he probably needs some time to think, to be alone. You'll see him next period anyway. Talk to him then." Heath agreed with that but knew that if he was about to be ill, he might need help. "I got it." Deuce said and stood up, carrying his empty tray to the trash and following Jackson out.

The boys weren't the only ones who were concerned with Jackson's behavior. The usual lunch setup of Frankie, Ghoulia, Cleo, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Abbey, and Lagoona had seen Jackson's temper tantrum. "Wow. Wonder if he's okay." Draculaura said, concern in her voice.

"It could have been well deserved. Heath not always so careful with his words." Abbey suggested. While the ghouls could agree on that, they doubted it could have been so bad. "Anybody know of anything that he could be upset about?" Lagoona asked.

"Frankie" was all Clawdeen said, taking a sip of her drink. Franke turned to look at her, with Ghoulia also giving a questioning moan. "What do you mean?" asked Frankie. Cleo also was curious, "Do explain." She requested yet simultaneously commanded of her friend.

Clawdeen sighed, "Seriously? You all can't be that dense. Jackson and Holt both like you Frankie, but neither of them is able to get close to you, not for lack of tryin'. Jackson does the usual stuff, tries to just talk with you and hang out during and after school; but Holt tries to take things another step further with his grand gestures to get you to take notice. But you haven't really been giving them the time of day."

"That's not true. I talk to them all the time, even outside of school." Frankie denied. She thought back over the past week or so, realizing that with the upcoming break, Jackson had been making suggestions that they hang out more; to get to know one another better, splitting time up between himself and Holt to try and get both halves to reason better with the other. Holt had taken more jobs lately, putting on more high-energy performances and attempting to be less irresponsible. But they were still too showy and loud for her that she had a hard time taking some of these barely legal actions as genuinely sincere. Especially since he also let his anger issues get in the way, starting a fight nearly every other night it seemed; she thought there needed to be more time for him to learn that not everything is about a good time when its him hanging out with her. And with Jackson, he needed to learn that it was okay to be himself with others, make the effort to understand that she needed more from him in regards to his always guarded attitude that she felt kept her distanced from him. She wondered, _should I have said something to either of them, to let them know I noticed their efforts at getting along?_ She really did want to get together with Jackson- and by extension, Holt- so badly that it was difficult for her to say the right things to him. It's why she opted to say barely anything at all. Now she was second-guessing that course of action.

"Oh, but since they're both trying and getting nowhere fast, they've become convinced it's the other's fault and are reluctant to let the other take the lead." Lagoona surmised, "And Holt's not the dominant persona, so he's not going to let any time be wasted on things like resting, which is probably why Jackson's still not feeling so well."

"I didn't know he wasn't well." Draculaura said. Abbey shook her head, "Even I notice that he be much slower and talk less in class. Mad Science his favorite, yet he not say anything during lab."

"Exactly." Said Clawdeen, getting up to toss out her trash. Cleo looked to her friends and decided this would be a good time to convince them to take her up on her "offer" for break.

"Well, maybe he needs to get some fresh air. My mummy…my daddy, has offered to provide a vacation for me and my friends over the break if none of you have any plans." She said, being sure to carefully pick each word to set up the situation as something that they were also deciding on. A diplomacy tactic that she didn't often employ, going instead for the "_I have spoken, so let it be done_" tone most of the time. Ghoulia looked at Cleo with an excited and curious look in her eye. "I have ten tickets that I can share with my friends. Well, nine including myself. It's a train ride to the resort and then the next week spent at spas and shopping around town." She elaborated, not willing to divulge just what kind of resort and spa she was talking about. She thought that technically, she wasn't lying.

As the girls were oohing over this news, Lagoona spoke up, "Sorry guys, but I'm traveling back home for the break. I'd love to come and hang with you, but plans were already made and it's a nice idea of seeing my parents again for a little while. You tell me how it all goes when you get back, ok?"

Despite their initial disappointment over not having Lagoona join in, they were still excited and Lagoona could see that. Chuckling, she said, "I'll let you get to planning then. Don't want to get in the way. Besides, I got to get my stuff together anyway and I haven't even started yet on my swim gear. See you ghouls later!"

As she was walking away, Draculaura turned to Cleo asking "So tell us more about this place. It sounds fangtastic."

"Yeah. It's awfully nice of your dad to do this." Clawdeen agreed. Cleo simply waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "It's nothing for the great Ramses de Nile. But it's still something to make the best of."

"So who else can you take with you? If we all can go, you still have 4 tickets." Frankie said, counting off her friends in her head. Cleo smiled at her and answered, "Well, I haven't talked to him yet, but Deuce is invited along. I suppose then that I can leave it up to you guys to decide who else."

"I would like to bring Heath along." Abbey tentatively suggested, yet still managing to sound firm. The girls sighed, realizing that of course she would want to bring him along since they were heading into definite relationship territory. But that also meant finding peace and quiet would be a little harder.

"Ooh, ooh, then I suggest Clawd too." Said Draculaura, practically bouncing in her seat. Clawdeen knew this was coming but took it all in stride. "So then we have to invite Jackson too. You're the one who suggested it Cleo and besides, Frankie might not mind it either…" she said, taking the opportunity to tease the two of her friends in one go. If she was going to have to spend vacation with her brother, might as well make things interesting.

"That's not a bad idea." Frankie said, looking imploringly at Cleo for approval. "I mean, not that I wouldn't mind, I mean mind…I mean not, not….oh you know what I mean." She said, getting frustrated and beginning to blush.

"Well then that's settled. Quick too." Cleo said. "I'll try to talk to them before fearleading and casketball practice begins this afternoon." They agreed and stood, noticing the time and wanting to get to their lockers before the lunch break was over. While excited over this new plan, Frankie was also worried about Jackson. She figured that she would have to talk to him eventually. Trying to walk with a little more energy she followed her friends out of the creepateria and headed toward her locker. She thought, _maybe next period we can talk_.

* * *

Deuce went first to Jackson's locker, but didn't find him next to it, or in it as sometimes was the case. Getting a bit frustrated at not having a clue as to where else he could have gone, he started to walk toward the library. Peace and quiet was what Jackson had said he was looking for so he figured that would be the place. Making his way down the hall, he stopped when he noticed a couple of guys exiting from the men's room in a hasty retreat. That usually meant someone had either been up to something, or was sick in there. Mentally groaning, Deuce just knew that it had to be Jackson in there.

Walking in, Deuce wasn't disappointed. All he could see was Jackson's legs from his place in one of the stalls, but he could tell that he had been ill. "Hey Jackson, dude, you alright in there?" he asked. Grimacing, he pushed open the door to check on his friend. "Jackson?" he asked again. Opening the door, he found his friend slumped on his side, eyes closed, and with one arm wrapped around the toilet to have kept himself upright.

"Dude!" Deuce shouted, rushing to his friend's side and getting him into more of a sitting position. "Jackson! Wake up." He yelled, smacking his friend in the face gently to try and wake him. It did the trick, as Jackson groaned and opened his eyes. "I wasn't unconscious Deuce…really…but thanks for that." Jackson mumbled, not very convincingly to his buddy. Deuce wasn't buying it, "Okay Jackson. How about standing then? Think you can manage that?"

The two managed to maneuver their way towards the sink after Jackson wobbled his way into a standing position thanks to Deuce. He turned the faucet on and splashed some water on his face, making sure he at least didn't look as much of a mess as he felt. "You didn't have to follow me. I'm sure there are better things for you to be doing. Heath send you after me?" Jackson asked while checking himself in the mirror.

"No he didn't. Clawd and I stopped him from checking up on you. What's up between the two of you? You're not usually so…"

"Honest? I only told him what he was thinking. It's always been difficult for him to actively want to spend time with _me_." Jackson said, turning toward his friend and leaning against the sink.

"You know that's not true. Sure he knew about Holt and the two of them together are a pair of hotheads that can get into trouble, but he likes to be with you too. You _are_ family." Deuce said, trying not to mention any hint that he had to suggest it to Heath that his cousin sit with them on Jackson's first day.

"Hah. Yes we are, although he does seem to need frequent reminders on that fact when considering his cousin _Jackson_, not just his cousin Holt..."he sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, "I know it must be difficult for him too. I'm just tired and not feeling well…I didn't mean to snap at him but it did feel a little cathartic. No wonder Holt never keeps anything to himself, or so I've heard."

Deuce sensed that Jackson was in better spirits, although he couldn't be sure with the use of the word cathartic. He wasn't a genius, but he thought Jackson meant that he was feeling more like Jackson. "Come on. Only one more class before practice. Think you can make it through that and then you can come hang out after school?" Deuce suggested. "You can sleep in the bleachers and I'll give you a ride home."

"Thanks Deuce." Said Jackson, finishing straightening out his clothes so he could show himself in public again. "I appreciate it."

"Don't thank me yet. You still have to face Heath. He needed a ride too." Deuce said, guiding his friend out of the bathroom and toward his locker. Jackson looked to Deuce and opened his mouth to respond, but all that came out was a yawn. Deuce smiled at him and stopped him at his locker, noticing that Cleo was trying to get his attention down the hall. "You sure you're alright? I don't want to let go if you're gonna fall over."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Jackson replied, opening his locker and getting what he needed. "I'll talk to you later. Better get to your girlfriend." Deuce warily agreed and walked over to Cleo.

"Hey Deuce. The girls and I need to talk to you after school. You still have practice today right?" she asked, wanting to be sure that this close to the break the team would still be around so she could talk to all of the guys at once. She'd hate to have to take time out of her day to go find them.

"Yeah. Everything ok?" Deuce replied. Cleo nodded and gave her boyfriend a hug. "Nothing to worry about. Just checking. See you then." She said, walking back to her locker. Deuce heard the bell and sprinted to get his stuff for class. Odds were that it would seem longer than usual with the way the day was going.

* * *

Class began in the typical boring manner, with instructions being given for the next assignment. Given that break was so soon, their teacher had opted for allowing free time to get prepared and start on their projects. Deuce was sitting next to Cleo like normal, but Heath had chosen not to sit near his cousin. _Probably a good thing_, Deuce thought. Jackson was currently sitting next to Frankie, who looked like she wanted to talk with him desperately, but was trying to keep herself in check until the teacher allowed them to talk among themselves as they talked about their papers. When that time finally came, she hesitantly tried to attempt small talk with him.

"So, Jackson, any idea what you might want to do? I could always use some advice." She began. Jackson had been nearly nodding off again when her voice snapped him awake again. "What? Oh, right. Sorry Frankie. You said something?" he asked, readjusting his glasses.

Frankie tried again, "Do you know what your paper topic is going to be? I could take a few suggestions since I never seem to….oh my ghoul! Jackson your nose is bleeding!" she shouted, catching everyone's attention. Draculaura looked over and sure enough, there was a steady stream of blood running down from Jackson's nose. Immediately she felt woozy and Clawdeen had to help her get herself together.

"What? Oh…oh!" Jackson exclaimed, standing up and pinching his nose to try to get the bleeding to stop. Immediately their teacher ushered him out of the classroom, knowing what normie blood could do to some monsters, and wanting to make sure her student was alright.

"Frankie. Can you walk him to the nurse?" their teacher asked as she poked her head back into the classroom. "Of course." Said Frankie, walking out to see Jackson sitting on the floor in the hallway with his head bent forward and still pinching his nose.

"Come on. I'll help you." She said, offering Jackson a hand to help pull him up.

"I'm okay." He said, but still took her hand. _Any opportunity to have Frankie nearby_, he thought, _but it could have been under better circumstances_. They made their way to the nurses' office and Frankie helped Jackson find his way to one of the cots. "Thanks Frankie." He said. "You need anything else?" she offered. She didn't really want to head back to class until she knew what was going on. The nurse gently pushed her out of the way so she could stop the bleeding.

"No, it's just a nosebleed. It happens." Answered Jackson, "It's probably from the cold I'm getting over. Too much aspirin or something." He waved his hand as he spoke.

"Why don't you let me check things out, hmm? Or have you already gotten a medical degree?" the nurse spoke. Frankie chuckled as the nurse worked to stop the bleeding, jerking Jackson's head back in the process and nearly knocking him over. "You can go back to class, Ms. Stein. I'll be sending Jackson back shortly." She dismissed Frankie who waved to Jackson. He waved back and she walked out of the office and back to class.

Upon retaking her seat, her friends came over to ask her about how things were. Before any of the ghouls could get in on the gossip, she was surprised when it was Heath who first asked, "Is he okay? Do I need to go down there or something?"

"No, no. He said it was probably because of his cold. The nurse didn't seem too worried either. He should be back to class before the period is over." She answered. It was sweet that Heath cared so much about his cousin. But then she asked, "I didn't know he still had a cold. They don't typically last that long, do they? It's been nearly a week."

"Normie cold. Who knows?" responded Clawdeen. The teacher realized that any prospect of getting work done was most likely shot now, so had announced that the students could take their free period anywhere they wanted or stay in the room in groups. Plenty of students left, but Frankie and the others opted to push a few tables together and stay, hoping Jackson would be back soon.

"I didn't think it was ever a good thing for normies to just spontaneously start bleeding. That doesn't usually end well." Draculaura said, snuggling closer to Clawdeen as she thought back. Clawdeen put her arm around her, "I'm sure Jackson knows what he's talking about. His father is a scientist and being a normie, he probably knows more about how normies work than we would." She reassured her. Deuce thought he should probably add in what happened in the bathroom, but knew that Jackson might not appreciate it. His internal debate must not have been so internal as Cleo asked, "What is it Deuce?"

"Well," he began, rubbing the back of his neck, "He kinda passed out in the bathroom after lunch..." He admitted.

"What!" exclaimed Heath. "Why didn't you say anything. I need to…"

"…after he finished puking his guts out." Deuce finished. Heath stood up and walked over to the teacher, speaking with her briefly before running out of the classroom.

"Oh, that can't be good." Cleo remarked, with Ghoulia agreeing. Frankie chewed on her bottom lip. She worried that she should've stayed a little longer in the nurses' office before heading back. _Can't seem to do anything right for Jackson today_, she thought. It was too bad Lagoona wasn't in this class with them; she might've known how to comfort the rest of them as she seemed to do so often. Clawd might have soothed Draculaura too if he was there. Even Abbey would have had some blunt comment to make that would've helped. As it was, Frankie realized that no one of their group seemed to know what to say next. They spent the period actually working, and managed to get the majority of their papers completed – at least they wouldn't have to worry about that over break. The period ended and neither Jackson nor Heath had made their way back. Frankie packed up their stuff too and walked down to the nurses' office, the rest of the group heading off toward the gym for practice.

She knocked on the door and one of the nurses let her in. She didn't have to look very far, since Heath had his head flaming again. He saw her and put a finger to his lips, getting out of his seat.

"Hey Frankie." He whispered, noticing his and Jackson's books and taking them from her, placing them on the floor next to his chair. "He's sound asleep. Exhaustion will do that to you I guess."

"Is he okay?" she whispered. Jackson was indeed asleep on one of the cots, with some gauze stuck in his nose. He made quite a sight, with some dried blood still on his face. Heath must have seen her discomfort, saying "Sorry. I tried to get the rest of it off but I didn't want to wake him. He told me he thinks he hasn't really slept in probably two or three days, neither him nor Holt would agree on resting. They're both so stubborn."

"Three days!" she exclaimed, lowering her voice as Jackson moved in his sleep. "How was he still able to move around today? That's difficult for a monster, let alone a normie. Oh, this isn't because of me is it?" she asked. Her eyes began to water and Heath began to panic, not really knowing how to handle a crying ghoul. He waved his arms around and motioned her to sit down, "Hey, hey, hey…I don't think this is your fault. If anything, I'm the one who probably messed up. I usually do." He said sheepishly, "But he probably just needs to sleep for a while, let his body recover from this cold and just relax."

"Okay" sniffled Frankie, "But what should we do? What do I tell the others? Oh, Cleo wanted to invite you on a vacation, but she was the one supposed to give you all the information, you can't tell her you know already, but you can't go to practice now, not with Jackson like this, but then how will you…." She rambled on.

"Frankie, Frankie!" Heath spoke a little louder to get her to calm down, to keep her from waking Jackson. "Just tell the others we won't be able to make it to practice today. Deuce or Clawd can fill us in later tonight or Cleo could even call." Heath suggested, surprising Frankie with his helpfulness.

"Okay" repeated Frankie. "I'll talk to you both later then. Tell him I stopped by, alright? Hope he feels better." Heath smiled. "Will do Frankie" he said, giving her a wink.

Feeling a little better, Frankie made her way to her locker to get her things for practice. She was going to have to have a long talk with the others.

* * *

Clawd and Deuce were only half-heartedly playing casketball. The ghouls weren't doing their best in fearleading either it seemed when Franke showed up. Ghoulia was the first to notice, waving to the others to signal that their friend had shown up.

"Oh, Frankie. Tell us what happened!" squealed Draculaura, catching Clawd's attention. That high pitch was bound to get a werewolf's notice, as he and Clawdeen both had matching grimaces on. "Oops, sorry." Draculaura said, waving her hand in front of her apologetically.

"Go ahead Frankie" requested Cleo. Grateful, for once, for her friend's commanding presence that kept their friends from all talking at once, she took a deep breath before starting her explanation. "Jackson wasn't awake when I got there…" there was a collective gasp but Frankie continued, "…so I spoke with Heath. Oh, I should let the coach know Heath won't be here for practice." She said, starting to walk over to the casketball coach, but Clawdeen pulled her back over to the others.

"Deuce already filled them in. What did Heath have to say?" she asked. With wide eyes, Frankie cleared her throat and began again, "Well, he said that Jackson and Holt haven't been sleeping. Neither one of them wanted to waste time sleeping and with this cold, Jackson has just been worn down."

"What about the nosebleed?" asked Draculaura.

"Another part of this normie cold, especially since being sleep deprived meant Jackson couldn't really fight it off as well as he should have been able to. But with some rest he'll be okay." She looked to Cleo, "Heath said to fill them in on the detail of the trip later, you could call, or the guys could do it for you" she suggested, fidgeting a little under everyone's direct attention.

"Sounds good. Maybe he shouldn't come if he needs a few days to rest." Cleo said.

"Oh, no, please let him come. It's just what he needs." Pleaded Frankie. She wouldn't outright admit it, but just like Abbey, she was hoping to get closer to her guy over the break. This trip would be the perfect opportunity to do that in a hopefully, not so awkward, way.

"Very well. I can be a benevolent princess." Said Cleo, moving her hands into her signature position. While condescending to some, the girls knew that's just how Cleo behaved. "So then how about I fill you all in after practice then since the earlier plan didn't work out so well." She suggested, already guiding Ghoulia into position and signaling the others that conversation was over and practice was beginning.

"I should probably tell the guys what happened too. I'll be quick." Frankie said, setting down her pom- poms and running over to the guys. As she retold the story to the guys, the ghouls worked on their warm-up moves for a while. After getting back, it was almost like a regular practice. Towards the end, though, Heath and Jackson came wobbling in.

"I told you…you should still be asleep. My mom is gonna pick us up and you can spend the night at my house. I don't know how you even managed to get away from the nurses, or me." Heath was complaining, watching his cousin carefully.

"And I told you, I'll be fine. No need to feel guilty or anything." Jackson remarked, brushing away the hand Heath had been about to put on his shoulder. "I'll be fine after some more sleep." He yawned. "Besides, you said the girls wanted to talk to us, so here we are. Talk." He finished, dropping himself onto one of the bleachers, practically sagging into the seat.

"Fine. Frankie!" Heath yelled over to them. The coach, who had no doubt heard of the day's events, looked over at the boys and yelled out, "Okay guys. We end there today." Effectively dismissing the casketball team, the only ones to remain in the gym were the ghouls and Clawd, Deuce, Heath, and Jackson.

"Well. Nice to see you up." Clawd said to Jackson who just gave a tiny wave. He felt, and looked, like he should still be passed out.

"I'll make this quick then." Cleo started. "My father has invited you all to go on a trip over the break with me, all expenses paid." She ended with a flourish of her hand.

"That sounds awesome!" Deuce shouted. The other boys were also enthused, including Jackson's own version of exhausted excitement. "He's okay with me coming?" Deuce asked her questioningly.

"Not that he has much choice in that matter, but yes, he's allowing you to come along too with the girls." Cleo remarked. _At some point_, she thought, _I have to tell at least him the whole truth_.

"Where are we going?" Draculaura asked. This question clearly had been eating her alive since lunch. Cleo took out her brochure and was about to hand it over when she decided that it could use a little embellishing. "It's a high-end resort with spas and other things that would befit a princess such as myself. There's a nearby town too where we can spend time doing the obligatory shopping, sightseeing, and musical events. Oh, there's also plenty of outdoorsy things for the guys here to enjoy. The best part is, it's practically going to be all ours for the break." She said, with a nervous laugh she hoped sounded more like she was anxious to get going.

"Cool." Clawdeen said. Ghoulia moaned at Cleo, prompting her to continue with more than just that information. "Oh… where exactly? Well, wouldn't it be better if it was just a surprise?" Cleo said.

Getting a few disbelieving looks, she thought it better to add something. "How about this; it's on the East Coast…."

"Not much better. But hey, if it's something we can go along with for free, I'm in." Heath said, saving Cleo from further elaborating.

"Ok. It'll be like a mystery. That'll be fun. Who knew you could be so adventurous?" Frankie giggled with her usual bubbly attitude.

"But what will I know to bring if I don't know where we're going? I can't plan out my wardrobe without some kind of heads-up." Draculaura complained, panic at the prospect of a fashion crisis.

"It's springtime and on the East Coast, D. Bring something that's good for warm weather, but a few sweaters too." Clawd recommended. Clawdeen just rolled her eyes at her brother's antics to help her friend with fashion advice. Practical? Yes. But not really what Draculaura was looking for. "We can pick our stuff out together ghoul." Clawdeen jumped in.

Ghoulia moaned. "That's right Ghoulia." Cleo agreed, "I did say a train ride earlier. We get to go on one of the most amazing trains ever. Of course." She said. "The Orient Express. Well, one of the many models. It'll get us there in half the time a plane would, since it's a phantom train and all. We leave the day after break begins at eight at the station."

"Sounds like a plan, right Jackson?" Heath said, turning to face his cousin. Jackson however, was sleeping in a rather uncomfortable looking position and probably had been since the start of their conversation. "Oh man." He groaned. "Not again."

"C'mon dude. I'll help you get him outside." Deuce offered, lifting Jackson up as though he weighed nothing. "Your mom gonna be outside soon?" he asked.

"Yeah. She should be here any minute." Heath answered. With that, the three of them left the gym after saying their goodbyes.

"I hope Jackson feels better soon." Frankie fretted, following them out the doors with her eyes for as long as she could.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Cleo said, "And if not, like I said earlier, the trip will do him good."

Frankie couldn't do much else other than agree with that. A thought popped into her head then, "When are we gonna tell Abbey all the details?" she asked.

"I can call her tonight." Draculaura offered to Cleo, who shook her head in approval. "All right then, see you all tomorrow." Clawdeen said, and the group dispersed to start heading home. Frankie made her way over to her stuff too, thinking that even when she got home, she would still be thinking about Jackson. She thought, _maybe a visit after my homework is done might be acceptable for dad_? He was very much against the idea of his little ghoul spending too much unsupervised time with any boy, but she could probably persuade her mother. Resolved on this, Frankie had a little more energy in her step as she headed home.

* * *

Draculaura finished up with her homework as quick as she could to be done in time to discuss her invite with her father as soon as he got home. And of course, she needed all the time she could spare in trying to figure out what she should take with her on the trip. She heard the front door open and close, signaling that her father was home. She sprinted out of her room and down the hall to greet him.

"Hello father! What a great day. Glad to see you home. Did you have a good day? I did, oh I already said that but that's okay I have a lot to say. Can we talk about vacation plans over dinner?" she rambled on, sounding a bit like Frankie. But she knew that her father had been hoping to get his daughter to visit the Old Country over the break on another of those nostalgia trips he sometimes went on, looking back on how he came to be seen by the normie and monster world as the monster to be feared and respected. As great as that all was, she kind of wanted a little something different this year.

Taken aback by his daughter's greeting, Count Dracula smiled at the warm welcome. "Of course my dear. Just let me get my things out of the way. I have barely gotten through the door."

Draculaura smiled sheepishly. "I just have some exciting news to tell you." She said as she helped him in the house. "Oh?" Dracula asked, closing the door and walking over to the kitchen area of the house to get things ready for their dinner.

Taking a deep breath so as to be able to get through it all as quickly as possible without interruption, Draculaura said, "Cleo invited a bunch of my friends on a vacation trip on the East Coast to a luxury resort and spa. Please can I go? Please?" she pleaded, widening her eyes as she implored her father. Dracula paused in his preparations to look up at his daughter, surprise on his face. Walking back over to her from behind the counter, he put his hands on her shoulders.

"I thought you and I were to go on another of our outings together? I thought you liked them?" he asked. Not wanting to hurt her father's feelings, Draculaura hurried on to explain before getting upset as well. "I do. I do. I love to spend time with you. I would just like to spend some time with my friends this break too. We can go another time. Please?" she asked him, eyes starting to water up despite her efforts. She couldn't help being always so emotional, but she would have liked to have inherited her father's ability to have such control as a count.

"Alright." sighed Dracula. "As long as you're going in a large group, and promise me you will stay safe."

Draculaura jumped up and down in excitement, plowing into her father to give him an enormous hug. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you…it will be the best and I will call you all the time. As soon as I get there." She said. Dracula smiled at how quickly his daughter could cover a vast array of emotions as she did.

"Do I get to know where this place is before I send you off on your own?" he asked, continuing with dinner preparations as Draculaura began to clean off the dining table and get that set too. "And is there going to be any problem with a certain boyfriend coming along too..."

"Well…" she began. "Cleo wanted it to be a surprise. We leave the day after break begins on one of the Orient Express trains. As for Clawd, she invited him along too but that was probably just because she also invited Deuce and wanted him to have some guy company too…he, he…" she said, waving her hand around as though this wasn't something to be concerned about while nervously laughing.

"Hmm…hmm..."her father said, looking at her with a stare that had put many normies in a terrifying state.

"Frankie, Clawdeen, Ghoulia, Heath, and Jackson will also be coming too…Oh! And Abbey too if I can go call her now?" she asked, backing out of the room slowly and toward where she had left her iCoffin on the couch. She hoped that this would convince her father not to back out of his earlier approval.

He sighed again. "Very well" he acquiesced, "so long as you keep to your word about contacting me and promise to behave yourself. I'm trusting you Draculaura." He said.

"I know. It'll be okay. Thanks." She said, turning to run out of the room. However, she paused and doubled back to give her father one more hug before running into the sitting area, not noticing how her father shook his head and gave his daughter a fond look. He realized that she was growing up and he would have to do what he said and just trust his smart little ghoul.

Draculaura picked up the phone and headed back upstairs to her room, relieved when Abbey picked up the phone right away. She relayed all the information that Cleo had provided at practice and was thrilled when Abbey had said that she had gotten permission and a similar threat to "be behaving with no funny boy business". The two talked briefly about the upcoming trip and how much they looked forward to it before Abbey asked about whether or not Draculaura knew anything about what had happened with Jackson. She'd spoken with Heath but he didn't say much other than Jackson would be fine after some sleep and some medicine to get rid of his cold.

"Yeah. That's about as much an explanation as we got too. His nosebleed really freaked me out though. But it's not uncommon I guess. It still made me woozy though. Maybe Frankie will be able to help him out. She was really concerned." Draculaura said, twirling a piece of hair with her finger.

"Good thing too. I can only wonder how well Heath is as at taking care of someone." Abbey agreed, with both of them sharing a chuckle at that thought. Saying their goodbyes, they ended their call and returned to finishing their homework. Draculaura imagined all the possible ways she and Clawd could spend the time, making only a half-hearted effort to finish before her father called her in for dinner.

* * *

Frankie had a similar conversation with her parents, reaching practically an identical compromise. Still, a success was a success and she pressed her luck at dinner.

"Would it be alright if I stopped by Heath's house after dinner? My homework's done and I was just wondering if I might be able to help cheer Jackson up a bit after today. He wasn't feeling very well and his parents are away." She asked, looking down at the food in her plate. Tentatively, she looked up to see her father giving her a look that definitely would have led to a denial if not for the fact that her mother laid a hand on his arm. Silenced, he gave a little huff and replied with "Ask your mother."

Hopeful, Frankie looked directly at her mother. She knew her father would be fuming any minute now, sparks sure to start flying if something wasn't said. "I would only stay for a little while. Maybe just watch a movie or something…"

Her mother wiped her mouth with her napkin and tilted her head before speaking; a trait that she had that meant she was picking what words she wanted to say. "Do you think his cousin wouldn't be able to cheer him up or help take care of him? I'm sure that he will be fine." Frankie began to protest, opening her mouth but not getting father than, "But, I…" before her father's look made her stop.

"But…" her mother said, "I would have no problem if you stopped by only to watch a movie so long as your father drives you over and back, and you come out as soon as he texts you." She said sternly, hoping that this would be suitable for both her daughter and her husband. He did only want to protect his daughter, keep her close to him and his wife. This way, her husband felt that he actually had a firm handle on things while Frankie also got to do what she thought would make her friend – and most likely herself – feel somewhat better. She wasn't made yesterday to be naïve enough to not notice that her daughter clearly had some deep, if confused, feelings toward this boy and his alter ego.

"You need to let me know immediately if Holt decides to be the one to spend the evening with you. Otherwise, I can go along with that plan." Frankie's father begrudgingly responded, returning to finishing his meal.

"Oh, awesome!' Frankie grinned, shooting her mother a grateful look. She went to put her plate away when her father called her back to the table, telling her that she should finish her meal before getting ready. If he wasn't done, then she wasn't going anyway so she'd just have to wait. For Frankie, it seemed like this dinner was longer than usual, as she tried to eat at a normal speed rather than risk having her father reprimand her for shoveling food into her mouth. Her mother smirked at her and Frankie could feel the blush on her cheeks. Once dinner was finally over, she texted Heath if it was alright to visit. In hindsight, she probably should have checked with him first, but luckily he said that his parents were okay with the idea of watching a movie. Apparently, Deuce was already over there too. Frankie decided to keep that information to herself though, following her father out into the car. The car ride was mostly silent, putting Frankie on edge. Pulling up outside Heath's house, Frankie was about to shut the door when her father leaned over and said to her, "Have a good time. I do trust you Frankie- I just want you to stay safe. You're my little ghoul, you know. It's my job to be the overprotective dad."

She smiled at him, "Well you do it very well. I'll be okay. Thanks dad." She shut the car door and walked to the house, turning to wave goodbye to her dad as she walked in.

The boys were down in the basement, watching the television down there. Heath was on the couch that had been pushed up against the wall in the small space, as was Deuce, but Jackson had apparently opted for the partially deflated beanie chair that he was laying against on the floor. He looked like he was just about asleep again, but brightened up as she walked in the room. He frantically began looking around on the floor next to him for his glasses, but Heath stopped him from getting up. "Wait. Here." He said, handing the glasses that had been placed on the small table next to his side of the couch. "Don't hurt yourself." He chuckled while Jackson just placed his glasses in their proper spot.

"Hey Frankie." Deuce said. He made a movement to get up from the couch to offer her his seat but she declined, saying, "No it's alright. I'll sit somewhere else." Feeling bold, and wanting to let Jackson know that she hadn't been purposively avoiding him as some sort of rejection, she walked over and sat in front of Jackson. Leaning up against him, she tried her best not to focus on the looks the other boys were giving her or the blush that was certainly spreading across her face and neck. At least she hadn't lost complete control and shocked Jackson. "This alright?" she asked him, looking at the television.

"Y-yeah. Sure. That's fine." Jackson stammered, and thankfully the other boys remained silent. No doubt that she wouldn't hear the end of it tomorrow though. _Oh well_, she mentally sighed_, it was worth it_. The group began to immerse themselves in the movie and Frankie snuggled into Jackson. She noticed that he wasn't fast asleep like she had expected him to be, although Deuce had his head in his hands and Heath had spread himself out on his – on some of Deuce's – side of the couch. Fearing she might have been doing the opposite of what she had come here intending to do, she turned a little on her side to face Jackson.

"How come you're not asleep? I thought you were exhausted. It's not me is it?" she worried. Jackson smiled and shook his head, wrapping an arm around her before answering. "No. I'm relaxed. Thanks for coming over Frankie. I really do appreciate it." She smiled back and leaned her cheek against his chest. The two of them had been spending the evening in silence, and she was able to notice something. Somehow the thought had never really occurred to her, being surrounded by the undead and other creatures, that Jackson as a normie would have a slightly different-sounding heartbeat than the others. She must have shown something on her face because he asked her about it.

"I never really thought about it, but a normie's heartbeat is different from the monsters that I usually see every day." She said, blushing again at the fact that this could be perceived as quite an intimate conversation topic. Jackson, for his part, didn't seem all that fazed. "Yeah," he mumbled, "Not that it would make too much of a difference though." He said, tightening his hold around Frankie so that she would know what he meant by that.

"I find it soothing." Frankie said, and truthfully she did. It was different from the way that her charge was conducted through her body to keep her alive. She leaned her head back against his chest and returned to watching the final scenes of the movie, upset that it was nearing its end and she would have to go home. But she did notice that Jackson's heartbeat had been slightly faster than when she had first laid against him. As it slowed down to the pace she first heard, she felt around in her pocket for her phone to check the time. If she stayed here too long her father would get upset, and she wanted to be sure that he hadn't missed any text.

As she scrolled through the messages and read the "I love you" text from her father, she noticed that the steady heartbeat had slowed down some more. Pulling back to check on Jackson, she noticed that he had fallen asleep. Content to stay there a little longer until the movie had at least ran through the credits, she had almost fallen asleep herself when her phone buzzed. Slipping out of his arms as gently as she could, and tip-toing across to the stairs, she made her way up to the family room where Heath's parents were sitting. Letting them know that the boys were all asleep downstairs, she made her way out to her father who was waiting at the curb. She felt lighter than she had going in to visit with Jackson, even though hardly anything was said. _Sometimes_, she thought, I _guess just sharing another's company is all that needs to be done. _

* * *

Jackson wasn't in school the next day, understandably, and the ghouls talked about their plans for the upcoming trip. Luckily they were able to all get permission to go and so put more effort than usual into making sure that projects could be completed before they started on break. The day was uneventful, except for the usual antics that happened when Heath worked to impress Abbey. The last day of school was pretty much the same, except that Jackson had returned long enough to get the work he needed to do before break and Cleo seemed to the others to be more guarded about something. Unfortunately, she wouldn't share anything with them and so they were forced, reluctantly, for her to decide to tell them if she needed to talk. The girls had tried to provide her with every opportunity they could imagine for her to confide in them, but Cleo had been as stubborn as ever. However, at the end of the day, Cleo pulled Ghoulia and Deuce aside.

"Can I talk to you both at the maul later? I really think I should tell you this before we go on the trip." She said. Ghoulia moaned in affirmation as well as concern for her friend's behavior. Deuce was also worried, "Sure. Everything okay Cleo?" he asked. She gestured with her hands and said in exasperation, "I told you. I'll tell you both later, ok? But not here."

"Ok Cleo." Deuce said, walking with her and Ghoulia towards the door of Monster High. "You two need a ride?" he offered, but Cleo declined saying that her father had already sent servants to pick her up and escort her wherever she wanted to go. Ghoulia however, took him up on his offer and the two of them made their way to his car. "You have any idea what this is about?" he asked the zombie. He didn't usually spend much time around his girlfriend's best friend, but hopefully she was able to use her intelligence to pick up on something that he must have missed. Unfortunately, she just shrugged but moaned that she had been this way since a few days after the festival. Hopefully it was just Cleo being Cleo about having a grand production of hers being upstaged, but it didn't seem that way.

Once they had arrived, they met up with Cleo at their usual spot at the Coffin Bean. Not so usual was the fact that she had two servants seated nearby her. Sure she liked to flaunt her royal heritage, but this was extreme even for her – she actually liked to have her privacy and independence to hang out on a closer level with her friends. She waved them over and they took a seat. "I need you two to just listen. I trust you two to be able to…process…this and be able to continue to act normally. I thought against telling you, but Deuce you need to know in case you get into trouble and Ghoulia, if you know then I think we could all feel safer with your skills. I'm sorry, I know I'm rambling, but this is a sensitive subject." She gripped her coffee cup a little harder than necessary as she spoke. Deuce reached over to hold onto her hands, "Just tell us what's wrong Cleo. We're here for you." He said.

"I guess the best place to start is with what my father said about the festival. We were actually lucky that Heath did what he did because someone had set up a trap using the firecrackers. And it was meant to target my sister and I." Cleo spoke in a low voice. She hoped that having her closest friend and her boyfriend next to her to share this problem would give her the comfort she needed. Ghoulia instinctively knew that was what her friend was looking for, giving her a comforting moan and patting her friend's shoulder.

"Why?" Deuce asked. Cleo could only shrug, her father's explanation the only thing she could give. "But I wanted you two to know that's why we are going on this trip. My father thinks it will be safer to get away, but in a spot that he can easily monitor." She said, taking the brochure out of her bag and sliding it across the table to Ghoulia. Ghoulia read it quickly and gave it to Deuce. Ghoulia moaned and Cleo seemed marginally better. "Really? You think it can still be okay? You guys are alright with coming?" she said.

"Of course we are Cleo. We aren't going to just abandon you." Deuce said, his snakes also nodding in agreement. Cleo smiled and gave him a hug, turning to give one to Ghoulia too. "I don't think I want to tell any of the others though. I don't want them to do anything that might make things any more difficult…or do you guys think we should let them know too?" she asked, finally taking a sip of her coffee that was by now lukewarm at best.

"Only those you're comfortable with telling. You can tell them later in the trip too. It really is up to you. But I don't think you should keep hiding it if something makes you think that we're in serious danger." Deuce said, Ghoulia agreeing with him. Cleo nodded, "That makes sense. I don't want any of my friends hurt." She sighed. "Let's go with that."

Ghoulia moaned. "Great idea." Deuce said. "I'll let you girls spend the rest of the evening at the maul. I need to get some stuff together too. See you tomorrow for lunch Cleo?" he asked, standing up. She nodded and Deuce gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. Cleo finished her coffee and she and Ghoulia headed off to browse through the shops to take her mind off of the situation, her servants following close enough behind to keep track of her but not interfering with the girls.

After finishing up and heading to their homes, Cleo once more looked through her instructions as she started packing. Sure she had another day to get ready, but there was plenty that she would have to bring to make this wilderness excursion bearable.

* * *

Clawd and Clawdeen were outside their house, trying to burn off some energy by playing some casketball. Clawd was doing a number on Clawdeen in terms of scoring, but they were both enjoying themselves. "So you think there's going to be anything interesting to do on this trip? Cleo didn't really say much about the place. Still better than staying here with Howleen's most recent attempts at musical prowess." Clawdeen asked her brother as he passed the ball to her.

"Maybe. But I am looking forward to bring able to spend time with Draculaura, even if there isn't much to do around this place." He said, causing his sister to make a face at the mention of her brother and her best friend planning on being romantic with each other. "Thanks Clawd. I don't need know any more about that." She said, dribbling the ball and taking a shot at the hoop, only to have the ball bounce off the rim again. It was clear to both of them that she wasn't really trying tonight.

Clawd laughed, "Hey, you asked. Maybe you'll be able to find a date…"he suggested.

"I'll need to do something." She agreed, catching the rebound and turning to her brother. "It's gonna be a regular love fest. There's you and Draculaura, Cleo and Deuce, Abbey and Heath, and Frankie and Jackson or Frankie and Holt…" She listed off the couples on her fingers as she spoke.

"Are Frankie and Jackson getting together again? Frankie and Holt? I'm not exactly sure how to phrase that..." Clawd asked, taking a shot and having the ball go through the hoop almost effortlessly. "And I still can't believe Heath and Abbey have gotten together. How'd he do that?"

Clawdeen shrugged, "She likes how he makes her laugh. Him fawning over her probably has something to do with it too, so long as it's nothing too stupid" she said, taking the ball again.

"We are talking about Heath right?" Clawd teased his sister. She rolled her eyes and checked the time. It was late and she was supposed to go over to Draculaura's to help her pick out her things. She passed the ball back to her brother. "I gotta head in. Draculaura's probably gonna call at any minute with a plea to help shove all her things into the three suitcases her father's allowing her to bring. It could take a while."

Clawd laughed at the mention of his girlfriend's antics and said, "Good luck. I should probably start getting ready too. But I should probably talk with one of the guys first to see if we can coordinate our outfits…" he said, attempting to keep a serious face. It must have worked since his sister did a double take before realizing he was kidding with her. She smacked him playfully on the arm, "Jerk" she said, and headed inside. Clawd laughed again, although rubbed his arm too. His sister could pack a punch. He hoped she could enjoy herself on this trip too.

* * *

Heath was on the phone with Abbey as he was getting his stuff together. He figured he would get a head start on things so he could spend the day with his girlfriend- that, and his mother made him. She also made him promise to keep an eye on his cousin too, who had already finished packing and was once again on the couch watching a movie. He seemed a lot better, but still needed to get some more sleep before his aunt and uncle were going to allow him to leave the house.

"So I will be seeing you tomorrow at park, yes? We can talk about big plans for trip and go for long walk if does not rain animals." Abbey said. Heath laughed into the phone, "What are you talking about? Oh, 'raining cats and dogs'? That just means it's raining heavy out." Heath corrected, trying to grab the shirts that had gotten wedged in the back of his closet.

"You do not ever have weather with falling animals? Avalanche season often has goats and sometime yaks being tossed into air. I thought there was something similar here. Hmm." She said. "Oh well. You know what I mean. And I make you laugh. We good together." She said.

Heath smiled, "I agree with you there." He said, stuffing his bag with his shirts. There was a sudden scent of something burning and Heath looked around his room quickly, worried that he had set something on fire again without realizing it. If he could find it before his parents got back with dinner then he should be able to get out of any trouble. "I gotta go baby. I'll see you tomorrow" he said and quickly hung up. But he wasn't able to find anything. Confused he scratched his head as he tried to figure out why he was smelling smoke. Then he heard a commotion downstairs in the kitchen and the faucet running. Curiously he walked downstairs and found Jackson dumping water onto a black spot on one of the walls of the guest room.

"Hey Jackson…"he began slowly, "what are you doin'? What happened?" he asked, helping to put out the last of the embers.

"Must have been faulty wiring or something." Jackson said. But the panic on his face was still very evident, and Heath recognized that shape of a burn mark – he should since he made several of them on a nearly daily basis. He disbelievingly looked at his cousin, who stared back at him.

"What?" Jackson asked. Heath shook his head and looked back at the wall. _There was no way, was there?_ Heath thought. He decided to push the matter, asking Jackson, "And it just burst into flames? That's more of my type of thing. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing…I don't know, it's just…it's nothing, just nothing." Jackson said. But once again, his body chose to betray the truth as he sneezed – again apparently, as a very small burst of flame appeared in one of Jackson's hands. Once recovered, Jackson shook his hand to get rid of the flame, quickly putting it behind his back and sheepishly giving a small smile to his speechless cousin.

"Wha…when…how…how long have you been able to do that?! I guess it makes sense, you are half elemental but I thought only Holt could do that?! This is awesome! Why didn't you tell me?" he shouted at his cousin. It seemed there was a way for them to get to do something they could both enjoy doing.

"Ugh!" Jackson sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I didn't tell you because I am still trying to figure this out. It started about the same time as my cold. Mom says that cold was probably just me getting used to this new little trick I can do – as if physically transforming into someone else wasn't strenuous enough." He explained with his usual sardonic wit. Pacing back and forth in front of his cousin, he continued, "I have no idea how to control anything anymore and as for why Holt could it before me? That's another mystery." He flung himself back onto the bed and flung his arm over his face.

Heath was still ecstatic about the whole thing. "I can help you. So can my parents. You're smart Jackson, you can figure it out. It also helps that you have a master of fire for a cousin." He said, plopping onto the bed next to him.

"Sure. Now you want to hang out together. I'm still a normie like this, mostly – normie plus, I guess. I doubt I'll ever have the same capabilities as when transformed into Holt. Still want to be seen with me?" Jackson said, only barely looking at his cousin from behind his arm.

"Would you stop that? It's getting old…and really annoying." Heath said in frustration. "I know I've been difficult, but I'm trying and I do care about you man. You _are_ my cousin. Let me help, please? Consider it, family bonding time…" he offered. When Jackson didn't immediately respond, he bounced him on the bed.

"Heath, stop….stop….this isn't….stop…Fine! Fine." Jackson said, being released from this very comical and Heath-like form of torment.

"Good. We can start by getting this mark off the wall." Heath said, getting off the bed. Jackson slowly sat back up. He was feeling much better, but it still hadn't felt all that great to get tossed around like that.

"Okay. You have any suggestions?" he asked, already assuming that he should grab the bleach to try and wash the wall. "Of course – do you have any idea how many times Mom has made me clean up if I lose control? I've got it covered." He said.

* * *

The day of the trip arrived and everyone boarded the train after saying their goodbyes to their parents. Moving along the carriages, they found theirs and began to settle in. The girls began breaking out magazines to help pass the time while the boys chose to simply talk with one another or to spend the time on their iCoffins. There was practically no one else in this cabin, so once the train pulled out of the station, they chose to rearrange themselves and get more comfortable – and to throw on some music. Clawdeen and Draculaura were up dancing in the aisles, giggling at their antics, while Cleo and Deuce were cuddling in one of the corners. Frankie noticed that they seemed to be in more hushed tones, and more serious than their typical conversations.

"Everything okay between Cleo and Deuce" Frankie asked Ghoulia, who was sitting across from her. Abbey added her own observations, "They seem to be _very_ interested in their conversation."

Ghoulia just moaned and waved off their concern. "Yeah, Cleo just being Cleo I guess." Frankie said. "She doesn't like to get too far away from Deuce."

Ghoulia just nodded her head and got up under the pretense of getting a drink to get away from this awkward conversation. She figured that she might want to spend some time working on a few things to be able to keep track of all her friends should they need to be able to immediately contact one another. She just had to brainstorm a few ideas.

Watching their friend leave the cabin to get a drink, Frankie turned her attention back to Abbey and motioned with her head over to the boys. Clawd was at the moment wrestling with Heath over something stupid or ridiculous he had said or done. Holt was laughing at his cousin's expense before looking across the cabin and making brief eye contact with Frankie. Frankie blushed and tried her best to make it appear as though she hadn't been watching the boys, but Holt's wink in her direction let her know that he was on to her. But he stayed where he was, apparently too engrossed in the party antics of his friends to leave _\- at least it wasn't him involved this time in a scuffle, no matter how playful_, she thought, considering how he tended to get carried away.

Abbey however, continued to watch as Heath finally managed to break free of the hold Clawd had on him. She laughed at them and turned to Frankie, "Boys here do not know how to wrestle – they look like toddlers attempting it."

"Yeah…"Frankie responded. Often it was just easier to go with whatever Abbey said when making comments about her home.

"We could go over and assist them?" Abbey suggested, pointing a finger in the boys' direction.

"No!" shouted Frankie. Realizing she might have been a little too loud even with Holt's music blaring, she repeated, "No. I mean, why don't we just stay over here? Or we could go dance with Clawdeen and Draculaura…" she said.

"Why you not want to spend more time with boyfriend? Too shy? I thought you were wanting to be getting together again – press play." Abbey asked. _What is she talking about – press play?_ –thought Frankie. "Oh, right. No, I haven't done anything to take our relationship out of the "paused" state. I don't know what to do about that." She admitted.

"You like them both. Is same guy. So why wait? Is simple- don't." Abbey replied in her typical form of logic. _Maybe I was making things more complicated than they needed to be_, thought Frankie. It had been a while since their brief dating period before she thought the two of them needed to get to know each other better. Then there had been a series of cute guys that she shamelessly had crushed on and realized Jackson and Holt had also probably been aware of that too. Frankie sighed again, and looked over to Abbey. Her friend was only trying to help in the best way she knew possible.

"Maybe I'll talk to him later." She said, attempting to reach a compromise with her friend. Abbey shrugged and seemed to debate whether or not she should stay with her friend or go over to her boyfriend. "You don't have to stay with me. I'm fine. I've got a magazine." She said motioning with her hands in a shooing motion, "You can go over there and warm up to your boyfriend." Abbey laughed, and took her up on her offer, walking over to surprise Heath in a strong embrace from behind. He let out a surprised grunt and got ready to try and shake off whoever had decided to grapple with him again before realizing it was Abbey. He smiled and moved closer, twisting as much as she would allow him to wrap his arms around her. Frankie smiled wistfully at the two of them, forcing herself to turn to her magazine and look for any article that might hold her attention. Unfortunately, all she seemed to do was stare at the page as other things were floating through her mind. Zoning out, she hadn't even realized that someone had taken a seat beside her until her magazine was grabbed out of her hands.

"Hey!" she said, making a move to grab her magazine back. Realizing it was Holt, she made a face and held out her hand for him to hand over the magazine. He laughed at this before flipping through the pages in a show of pretending to skim through it. "There must be somethin' good in here. I've been trying to get your attention for a while now, Frankie Fine! Oh, you just playing hard to get?" he teased with her.

"Ha ha. Some of us just like to spend a little time enjoying reading." She said, grabbing the magazine out of his hands. She knew that this hardly qualified as high-quality literature, but she was too frustrated with letting him startle her. He shook his head, raising his arms behind his head as a pillow. "Nah, not my kind of thing." He said, not realizing that it was in fact something to which his other half would have definitely agreed, especially if Frankie had said it.

"What would you rather do?" Frankie said, knowing she was probably setting herself up. But she had told Abbey that she would try to talk with Holt the same way she had made an attempt to spend more time with Jackson. "Listening to some good beats and spending time with you seems like a good idea. Hard to do if you just ignore me." He said, shifting in his seat to put his arm around her in hardly a subtle way. But Frankie found that she didn't mind, and moved infinitesimally closer to Holt to let him know that she wasn't going anywhere. Sure, she knew that her friends were probably watching, but it was important for her to say what she needed to say.

Seeing that this little action had brightened up Holt's face, and his hair, she said, "I'm sorry if that's what you think I've been doing. I wasn't trying to ignore you, or push you away. It just seemed to happen."

Holt, in his usual boisterous attitude, responded, "Yeah, I know how things can kinda get out of hand…I've been trying to do something lately to get your attention but you can be one hard ghoul to please! Apparently it wasn't doing wonders for Jackson either." He broke off to look out the window as the sun was setting. It made for a pretty sight and the two sat together watching it. "We've tried to do as you asked, ya' know. What's going to be enough, Frankie? Yo! You know the Holtster isn't really the patient kind, but for you…" he asked, surprising her with the intense look he directed at her. His red eyes were locked onto hers and his arm tightened around her shoulder. She was taken aback by this, even though she knew that Hydes had a history of being rough. But, she hadn't been on the receiving end of that except for the more playful and carefree version.

Sitting straighter, she said, "I know that Holt. But pushing things isn't good for anybody, even if you are getting frustrated. It's not like one day things work this way and then the next you decide that this is how to do things. You and Jackson have been communicating better but you need to let me think about things too."

He gave a heavy, frustrated sigh, taking his arm off her shoulder. Standing and leaning a little over her chair, he said, "That's what I _have_ been doing. It's why I decided to shake things up a bit, because that wasn't charging your bolts. You can't leave me hangin' here Frankie, not with the mixed signals you're sending me." He said, standing upright again, and putting his hands on his hips. "I guess I'll just have to try harder, _hmm_? How 'bout I go get you a drink? Sound good? You stay here and just enjoy the tunes." He said, backing away before Frankie was able to give him a response. But then she realized that the music wouldn't be loud enough in the next cabin to keep him from transforming back into Jackson.

"Wait! Holt, you don't…" she said, trying to get to him before he left. But she was too late and he had left, the door sliding back into place. Clawdeen had made her way over to Frankie and put her hand on her arm, saying "C'mon Frankie. Come dance with us. Please? You gotta save me from the lovefest." She said, looking at how her brother and Draculaura were dancing together in much the same way Heath and Abbey were. "He'll be back soon and then the two of you can talk some more."

Frankie sighed and allowed her friends to bring her into their little dance party. Looking around, she noticed that Cleo, Deuce and Ghoulia weren't in the cabin. In fact, she hadn't seen Ghoulia come back since she first went to get that drink. She figured they must have found something else to keep their attention and so tried her best to get into the happy mood the rest of her friends seemed to be in.

* * *

Holt slammed the door behind him and began to walk through the cabin, pulling his headphones up over his ears so as to stay himself. But immediately he noticed something off; this cabin was completely empty save for some sort of contraption on the floor. Curious, he started to walk toward it when he was pulled off to the side and behind a row of seats. "Yo! What are you..." he started, staring at his attacker who turned out to be Deuce.

"Don't get any closer to that thing." His friend warned him. "It's a bomb of some sort. Ghoulia's been trying to get figure out if she can disarm it, but all she has with her is her iCoffin." He explained as quickly as he could, pointing to Ghoulia about another row up.

"Well what are you all still doin' in here?!" Holt shouted, looking between Deuce and Cleo. He was all for getting as far away from it and back to the others. He made to get up but Deuce pulled him back again.

"You need to quite manhandling me, yo!" Holt said, getting irked by Deuce's actions.

"Then stay still and be quiet!" Deuce said. Cleo leaned over to better be able to whisper to Holt, "That thing gets closer to mixing whatever is in it with the more noise and movement that goes on around it. There's no magic in it, otherwise I might have been able to find a way to turn it off." She said. "Ghoulia took a chance to get closer to try and see it more clearly. Don't…"she emphasized this with the most serious glare she had ever directed at him before, "endanger her."

Holt moved as slowly as he could back out towards the aisle, pushing Deuce's hand off of him and motioning with his hand to wait. Deuce reached for his glasses, intending to make Holt stay still if he wouldn't do it willingly. Holt held up a finger, signaling for him to give him a moment. Looking from around the seat, he took a better look at the device. There were two containers with different colored substances, connected to a base that had lights blinking on it. Slowly making his way back to the others, he whispered, "I don't know much about chemicals and stuff, but the normie probably does. I let him out, you think you can keep him from setting the thing off long enough to let him fix things?" he asked.

"That's a good idea. Yeah, we got it dude." Deuce said. Cleo gripped her boyfriend's arms tighter in her panic but nodded. Holt gave a sideways look to the two of them and closed his eyes as he removed his headphones. In a burst of flame, Jackson was back with them, looking around confused. He opened his mouth to ask Deuce why they were hiding on the floor but his friend covered his mouth with his hand.

"Long story short, Holt let you out to see if you can disarm that bomb on the floor there." He whispered. Jackson's eyes widened and moved Deuce's hand away from his mouth. But Deuce continued "Don't move quickly and keep quiet, otherwise it starts to activate."

Jackson mentally groaned. This had to be one of the worst situations he had woken up to after Holt did something stupid. Inching out behind the seats, he took a look at the device. He needed to get closer to be able to identify the chemicals, but he thought he recognized them. He crawled his way out to Ghoulia, despite the shushed protests of Deuce and Cleo. Getting over to Ghoulia, she typed a message on her phone, _"__I can't do anything with the chemicals. I can't even get wireless connection to look them up. But I might be able to reconfigure some of the other part."_ Jackson nodded, motioning to take the phone to respond – _"__I recognize them. I think I can get them stable again or at least alter the level of explosive ability if you can send out a signal long enough from the phone to scramble the electrical impulses from the base. It probably will delay its detonation, but I think that this is a conference car. Projector in ceiling. Can you tap into that?"_

Ghoulia took the phone back and read the message quickly, nodding and typing a response- _"__I can do that but what if it starts to go off?"_ She passed it back to him and he thought about it. Then he thought of something obvious- _"__Why hasn't Deuce just turned it to stone?" _he typed.

Ghoulia read it and typed – _"__There's something that is blocking it. Cleo said there was no amulet or something so she couldn't figure it out. Maybe a potion but nothing for her to work with."_ – She passed it back and Jackson tried to figure something out. He thought about what was around him and realized that this car was probably empty because Cleo's servants weren't there. _But why?_ Jackson internally questioned. This was one of the last cars…unless it was larger than they thought it was. The end wall looked a little flimsy compared to the one he – Holt – had walked through so this must be one with a divider. Of course, a conference car! He typed back – _"__that's a dividing wall. Does Deuce have his phone? If he turns that to stone at the right time, it might be thick enough to take the brunt of the remaining blast and keep the train together. I'll have to get right next to the device to stabilize the chemicals. Once your scrambling program runs through, I should be able to slide it over to the wall before it starts to mix again. If I don't stabilize them soon though, it's gonna go off anyway." _He typed and started to slowly make his way over to device, noticing that the chemicals were about partly mixed. He would have to work fast but not make too many sudden moves. Ghoulia texted Deuce and looked over to him, seeing him read it and nod. She then looked to Jackson who nodded ever so slightly and began to run an app that she had been working on to scramble the electrical signals.

The base stopped flashing yellow and turned green, the chemicals stopping their flow. Jackson worked quickly and all seemed to be going well until Ghoulia's phone gave a short beep that signaled that its battery was about to die. Using the fluid in some of the wires to keep the mixture from combusting, Jackson heard the beep and chose to work faster than he had been, even if it meant that the device might activate again before the phone went off. Squirting some of it onto the parts that had been bolted to the floor, he closed the wire and ignited the liquid on the floor with a small flame from his hand. Once it had been removed from the floor, it activated again. "Now Deuce" Jackson shouted, covering his eyes and lunging for the nearest row of seats to take cover as his friend pulled his glasses off his head to turn the wall to stone. The wall turned to stone just seconds before the device began to blow, causing the train to shake on the tracks and several of the rows of seat to be blown back on top of each other. But it looked like things worked out as Jackson predicted.

Deuce had shielded Cleo from the blast and Ghoulia had found cover too, nearby them. "Whoa…"breathed out Deuce. "Ghoulia?" Cleo shouted out, looking for her friend whose moan let them know she was okay. From the other side of the car, Cleo's servants came rushing forward to check the situation.

"Wait. Where's Jackson?" Cleo asked. Deuce looked around and called out to his friend at the same time that the door behind them slammed open and their friends came in.

"Whoa…" Heath echoed Deuce's earlier response. "I had nothing to do with this. I swear" he said, as they all piled in. It was at that time that coughing could be heard and a pale arm clothed in a dirtied yellow shirt was seen trying to grab onto the top of an overturned seat. "Jackson!" Frankie said, rushing forward.

"I'm okay. I think. Everything's still spinning at the moment." He said, allowing her to support him and putting a hand to his head.

"What happened?" Draculaura asked. Cleo was holding onto Deuce and talking to her servants as Ghoulia walked over to the remains of something that the others couldn't identify. Heath and Abbey had gone over to help Jackson make his way back to the other cabin.

Seeing as an answer wasn't going to be coming any time soon, Clawd responded, "I have no idea but I think that we should head back into the other cabin. Let Cleo do whatever she's doing to handle it. There's hardly a place to stand here. C'mon." he guided Draculaura and his sister back into the other cabin. "Maybe Jackson can tell us."

Making their way back into the other cabin, music gone with the festive atmosphere, they sat near to where Jackson sat alongside Frankie who was looking him over. "Frankie, really, I'm okay. I was able to get some cover before the bomb went off."

"A bomb!" Draculaura screeched, again making her friend and boyfriend wince a little.

"Oh…I shouldn't have said anything without the others. I should stop talking." Jackson said, rubbing his arm. "That's gonna bruise though." He said. Abbey made some ice and offered it to him. Jackson gratefully accepted it. "But I was able to keep things from blowing up completely. He, he." He laughed nervously, obviously in a bit of shock. "Your advice actually helped me out there Heath." He said.

"Huh?" his cousin asked before it dawned on him. "Oh yeah! You used that to help? Awesome. See, I told you that you were learning from the master." He said, smiling. "What advice? Please to tell." Abbey asked, looking between Heath and Jackson.

"Maybe later. There's a bigger thing going on here." Frankie said, satisfied that Jackson hadn't been too badly hurt. Cleo, Deuce, and Ghoulia walked back in, coming to stand next to where the others were seated. Cleo looked to Ghoulia and then at Jackson, with the ice on his arm.

"Were you hurt, dude?" Deuce asked. Jackson shook his head, "Just a bruise. But I would like to know why I had to defuse a bomb on my vacation." He prodded. The others nodded along and voiced their agreement in wanting some information.

Cleo whimpered a little, eyes watering. "It's my fault. Someone's out to get me and my sister to get back at daddy. I don't know why. But it's why we're on this trip; to get away from home for a while to try and stay safe."

"A lot of good that did." Clawdeen remarked, only to receive an elbow jab to the side and an angry moan from Ghoulia. "No, she's right Ghoulia." Cleo sniffled. "I should have told you all before we left. I didn't want to worry you, or…."she wrung her hands in admission of her more selfish reason, "…want you to back out of this. I'm scared. I just wanted to be around my friends." She finished, holding onto Deuce.

The others felt sympathy for their friend, even if she did hold back the truth from them. "I can't believe you wouldn't tell us before…but I am willing to try and have a good time with you. We won't focus on that. We will stay safe and stay together and we will be fine." Draculaura said, crossing her arms.

"Yes. We are almost there now anyway." Abbey said, looking at the time. The others also noticed that they had maybe another hour left to go. "Until then, we not worry about things we cannot control." she said, wrapping an arm around Heath's and leaning her head on his shoulder. He was obviously thrilled by that move, which undoubtedly was why she had done it.

"By the way..." Cleo said, redirecting her attention from Deuce to Jackson, "thank you for that back there. I didn't know you could do something like that."

Jackson shrugged, wincing a little at the movement to his arm. "Not exactly something I make a hobby out of doing myself either…but you're welcome."

"My cousin is like a super agent!" Heath said, pumping the air with the arm that Abbey wasn't laying on. Frankie laughed at Heath's quickly rebounded carefree attitude. "That _was_ something." She said, giving him a gentle smile. Jackson blushed under the praise, the unusual recognition for his efforts as himself and not Holt. "I didn't do it alone. Ghoulia helped too." He said. So for the next hour, they talked about what had happened as though it was part of some movie and not a terrifying reality. And if Frankie was a little closer to Jackson than normal, no one said anything about it.

* * *

Disembarking from the train, a couple of servants stayed behind to look things over once again. The group made their way to their hotel, noticing that this was not exactly what any of them had been expecting. After having confessed everything that she knew about the place they were actually visiting, they had been expecting something more like camping. Jackson commented that he had often gone camping with his father when he was younger and it wasn't as horrible as they all made it out to be. Still, it wouldn't have been something he would have pegged as a highlight for his vacation. Heath also commented on those few camping trips that he had tagged along on and being relegated to just sitting around and setting up the campfire. Abbey had laughed and remarked on how that must be how he perfected that feature of his. Restoring some of the lighthearted mood that they had started out with, they had been pleasantly surprised that the triangle resembled more of a ski resort in springtime, with amenities that would make them all incredibly comfortable and entertained for the next week. Cleo had been right in saying that there would be "live" performances by both local bands and some lesser-known professionals too, and the town was a just a bus ride or romantic boat ride away. There would be plenty to do, but first they needed to get settled. Cleo immediately sent a message to her father to let him know all that had happened.

Their private cabin was large and yet, still quaint enough to not be overwhelming to the others who were not accustomed to these large spaces like Cleo had come to expect. The girls were going to have to pair up together, as were the boys. Of course Cleo would have to have a private room, this time not just for her princess standards. Normally it would just be something she demanded as "befitting royalty", but it also had to do with the fact that she needed to be able to have things set up to contact her father at a moment's notice and stay secure. After taking some time to make arrangements and get relatively settled, Cleo joined the others in the common seating room, letting the others know what her father said. Unfortunately, there wasn't much beyond not doing anything too out of character that would leave anyone open to being attacked.

"Why don't we all go to the outdoor amphitheater to listen to one of the performances tonight then?" Draculaura suggested, looking over one of the pamphlets that she had taken from the main lobby. "We have enough time to pick out a cute outfit and then head over."

"I don't know about that." Frankie said, content to try and get comfortable in their cabin.

"We could always split up. Nobody be alone but able to do different things." Abbey suggested, reaching for one of the pamphlets on the coffee table. She wouldn't mind something more relaxing after the day's events. Heath most likely would enjoy something a little rambunctious though, so she was hoping to find some compromise.

"Sure. If we split into two groups, then we should all be okay. The servants can then split up too." Cleo said. "I think a concert would be an excellent way to start the vacation, right Deuce?" she said, beginning to act more like her usual self. Recognizing this, Deuce readily agreed.

"What about this? There's a local theater performance in town. Looks interesting." Frankie suggested, handing the pamphlet to Abbey who had been looking at something to do with a festival for food tasting. She looked at it and said, "Oh look. They both in town tonight. Food sampling before play. We can do both tonight and have fun." She said. Heath and Jackson looked at each other, both knowing that their evening had essentially just been planned for them. Not only was he planning on staying with Abbey, but no way was Heath going to pass up a food tasting convention, even if it wasn't anything substantial.

"Well, I guess a concert is a good idea."Clawdeen said. "So long as we can stop by that grill nearby the courts. I'm starved." Clawd gave an emphatic nod in agreement with his sister, making her wonder if the boys planned everything around what they were going to eat.

"Well that settles it. Oh, Ghoulia, which would you like to do?" Cleo asked her friend. Ghoulia put a finger to her chin thinking. Both would be interesting, but she would like to stay close to Cleo at least for today. She felt that somehow, she might be able to help her friend enjoy herself and the band looked pretty awesome too. Giving a moan, she let the others know that she was going to join them at the concert.

"We'll need to hurry up if any of us want to get where we're going." Deuce said, his group all standing up to get ready. Draculaura practically bounded down the hall to her and Clawdeen's room to pick something out, nearly knocking her friend into the wall in her haste.

"Looks like you guys get to double-date tonight." Cleo teased at the others, looking mostly at Frankie who only just realized the implications of the situation she had inadvertently created with her suggestion. Getting up off the floor, Frankie smoothed out her skirt and nervously cleared her throat, "Well, we better get going too guys." She said, chuckling a little before heading to her and Abbey's room in what was supposed to be a carefree gait until she almost left her left leg behind. "Ha, ha…must have been sitting too long on that leg. Gonna go get ready now." She said, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb after readjusting her limb.

Cleo smiled at Frankie's antics and Jackson's blush at all of this. She thought, _maybe I'll have plenty to keep me amused right here?_ Laughing, she walked back upstairs as did Deuce and Clawd to get their things together. Abbey was left sitting on the couch next to Heath and Jackson. "Okay. Must go get bag together. You think this okay for tonight?" she asked Heath, standing up and giving a twirl. Heath was awed with the fact that she had given him the opportunity to blatantly stare at her. "Yeah. Looks good to me." Heath said.

"Hmm." Abbey said, walking away to meet up with Frankie in their room and leaving Jackson and Heath alone in the common room. Heath had continued to watch his girlfriend walk away until Jackson poked him. "C'mon. You can ogle her later. We should make sure we have our cabin keys and stuff for a night out on the town." He said.

"Yeah." Heath absent-mindedly agreed. "But you can't deny you're liking the idea of spending the evening with Frankie though….create a few…sparks." He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. Jackson gave his cousin an unamused look, trying his best not to start blushing again. "Hah, made you blush." Heath announced Jackson's failure, getting up and sprinting across to their room. Jackson had to admit that he was looking forward to trying to do just what his cousin had said though. He hadn't forgotten the night he spent at Heath's with Frankie cuddling with him. He hoped it was a sign that maybe they could go off 'pause'. But he also was highly concerned with how to keep the girls safe tonight too. It was more like luck and having studied a few labs in Mad Science class that let him keep the bomb from immediately going off. Entering his room, he got his cousin's attention, "Hey Heath?" he asked, "About what I said on the train…y'know, about that advice…" Heath turned to look at him while crabbing a comb to brush his hair once more before heading out. "Yeah…I meant to ask you more about that."

"Well. I hadn't been able to get the bomb to no longer run the risk of exploding, obviously, just delay it long enough. I used a little of what we were practicing the other day to ignite a little of it so I could pick it up and toss it out of harm's way." He explained, sitting down on the bed. "Do you think while we're here, we could try some more?" he asked.

Heath smiled. "Of course, cuz'" he said, returning back to finishing up his hair. "I can try to explain it some more like mom and dad told me – don't expect too much of the technical stuff though about elemental cores and whatnot that allow us to channel our element…That's something I'm still working on..." He drifted off, waving one of hands in a so-so motion. Jackson smirked and was about to retort but a loud crash was heard from above them. They boys rushed out and up the stairs to try and find the source of the noise, with the girls curiously- and hesitatingly after the day's events – peeking out of their rooms.

Clawd and Deuce were standing out in the upstairs hallway, trying to clear up the mess. It looked as though they had tried to move one of the large wooden closets around in their room for whatever reason, with little success. They had evidently dropped it and the floor, its shaking knocking over the side-table and flower pot that had been across the hall from them by a window.

"What are you doing?" Heath asked, while Clawdeen yelled out from downstairs, "Everyone alright up there?"

Jackson walked back over to the railing so they could see him. "Everything's okay. Just some remodeling it seems. We'll be ready in a minute." Ghoulia came out of her smaller room at the end of the hall. She had been glad for a private room like Cleo, but she wasn't too sure she would be sleeping much with Clawd and Deuce rooming adjacent to her. It appeared as though she was right, as she moaned over to Cleo who had also peeked out of her room from the opposite end of the hall.

"Why were you redecorating in here?" Heath asked, helping to pick up the now broken vase and dented table. Deuce sighed, "We were trying to get at the door that was behind it. Just move it a little to figure out where it goes."

"Now isn't the time to be looking for secret passages…"Heath said, trying to not cut his hands on the multiple shards on the floor.

"Actually, with the fact that someone might try and sneak in here, I think it might be." Clawd said. Frankie and Abbey by this point had come upstairs to see what had happened, Jackson also coming back with a broom and dustpan in hand for the dirt.

"There's a hidden door?" Frankie asked. She tried to maneuver into the room, but she could only see the closet on its side against the wall. But she could make out a good portion of the door.

"Well, at least if someone does try to get in, then you'll hear it coming. There's no way that anyone could move that closet the way it is." Frankie said.

"Wonder where it goes?" wondered Abbey aloud, "Must be kitchen, it is nearest room underneath I think." She said, moving toward the closet and levering it away from the wall with some difficulty. "Heath, come with me." She said sliding into the small opening she was able to make in the door, "I will be needing you to light the way."

Heath was going to protest, but she had already slipped inside and so he followed her. Once both were gone, Clawd smirked and turned to Jackson. "Lets her take the lead in the relationship, huh?" he asked. Jackson also smirked as he used the broom to sweep up the rest of the dirt, adding, "But don't let him know that's what going on."

"What's wrong with a girl asserting herself?" Frankie asked, hands on her hips as she looked at the boys. "Uh…nothing…that's not what I meant." Clawd stammered out while trying to recover. Luckily Frankie just laughed and waved him off. "Relax," she said, "I'm just playing with you macho men doing manly housecleaning."

Another loud bang announced that Abbey and Heath had found the other end of the corridor. "I'll go see where they are." Frankie said, stepping over one of Clawd's or Deuce's bags that had fallen over onto the floor.

"Ahh! What are you doing in there?!" Draculaura could be heard shouting. Frankie made her way to the bottom of the staircase and continued over to the voices of her friends. They were in the pantry of all places – Abbey had been close.

"Is strange place for secret passage." Abbey said, climbing over the fallen pieces of wood that had once been the wall. "You didn't have to wreck the wall, Abbey. The door just needed to be pried open a little harder. It probably hasn't been used in years and was stuck." Heath said, also trying to get out of the tunnel.

"But what is it doing here?" Clawdeen asked. Draculaura shrugged and offered an explanation, "Lots of old places have secret passages. Sometimes just to make getting from one end of a place to another, or to keep separate certain parts of the household. I bet that common room was added later in renovations and this had been two close cabins."

That made the most sense to anyone. Draculaura had her moments of brilliance and this explanation would let everyone sleep easier than if there was some plot by those after Cleo to sneak in after they were all asleep. Clawdeen walked back out of the pantry and called up to the rest of the group upstairs, "It's okay. Abbey found the exit in the pantry in case you need a late night snack Clawd!"

"Ha ha!" she could hear him shout back down to her. With the mess cleared up, the boys worked to move the closet back upright, next to the door. In case there should be a need to get Cleo out of the house quickly and unnoticed, going through the pantry door was a good idea to keep on hand. They just also needed to be sure to keep the doors guarded in case someone else got in and had a similar idea.

"If everything's okay, then we should probably get going if we want to get to the concert Deuce." Cleo said, wearing her hair up in a style that she used for parties. Ghoulia had walked out into the hallway too, and agreed with Cleo, motioning to her watch. Cleo and her group waved to the others and made their way out.

"We should probably get going too" Frankie said. Abbey nodded but looked at herself and Heath again. "Give us moment to get cobwebs off. Maybe new shirt for this skirt." She said. "You too Heath."

"Hey! I'm not wearing a skirt!" he joked. Abbey smiled, "No, but you are covered in cobwebs all over shirt. Spiders too."

"What?! Where? Get 'em off." He panicked, twisting about to try and knock off the spiders he was told about. Jackson had taken pity on his cousin and walked over to him, "Stop flailing. I'll help you." He said, brushing the back of Heath's shirt as Abbey walked back into her room to pick out a new shirt. Shortly she was out and Heath was spider-free.

"Alright. Ready to get going?" Frankie asked. Getting nods in approval, they all left with hope for a pleasant evening.

* * *

The next morning they all gathered in the main lobby for brunch and to talk about how their nights went. All around it seemed as though it went like any other vacation would be, overlooking the trailing security servants of Cleo's. Still, the band that had played had tossed out t-shirts to the crowd and other little carnival-like prizes that Clawd, being a werewolf, instinctively caught the most of for Draculaura. But Cleo didn't make a fuss, and they were able to enjoy the show late into the evening due to Deuce's ability to convince the band to substitute Cleo's name in one of their songs. Clawdeen and Ghoulia also raved about how awesome they were and how they were able to take one of the light-up scenic paths on the way back.

Abbey and Heath also talked about their night, mostly about the food though. Jackson commented on the play and its attempt to do justice to 'Romeo and Ghouliette'. Frankie however didn't say very much about their night other than to agree with how she thought the play and the food were good. She had been nibbling on her food, obviously lost in thought about something. As they agreed to split up again, this time for an all-girls and all-guys day, Frankie knew that she would eventually be grilled for information if Abbey hadn't said anything. So far, it didn't seem that way.

The girls had chosen to spend the morning shopping and the evening at the spa before meeting up with the guys for dinner at the restaurant on the boat for Devil's Swamp. The guys likely were planning on checking out the sports arenas and the arcade on site.

Boarding the bus into town, Draculaura sat next to Frankie while Clawdeen stood holding onto one of the railings as it started to rapidly fill up. Abbey, Cleo and Ghoulia had found a few seats next to each other a little further down, but were out of range for holding a decent conversation. "So, spill about last night." Clawdeen said to her, swaying a little as the bus started to roll out.

"That obvious, huh?" she asked. Draculaura gave her a sympathetic look. "Just tell us Frankie. We are here to help…I thought things were going along well with Jackson."

Frankie nodded and looked out the window at the passing trees. "That's just it. Things are great with Jackson and I feel like I should just go along with how badly I want us to officially get back together, but my head is getting in the way with all sorts of 'what ifs'." She said. She turned back to her friends and braced herself for their reaction to what she had to say next. "And…I kinda…made out with Holt after the play. There was an unexpected dubstep music piece to advertise the theater's next show and he was suddenly there and so we left before he made a scene by interrupting and we got to talking and…."

"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down Frankie." Clawdeen said, getting her friend to take a deep breath and avoid shocking the people around them. "How did that happen?" Draculaura said, happy to get in on some less life-threatening drama than Cleo's predicament had put them in.

"He had made it very clear on the train that he was getting a little frustrated with not getting any sort of feedback from me. And he was so concerned about me since he had seen the bomb and turned into Jackson so he could deal with it, and hadn't been let out since. So I…I gave him some feedback." Frankie said.

"Some sort of feedback." Clawdeen said. "You could have just tried talking with the guy. Does Jackson know about this?"

"No. I'm pretty sure Heath and Abbey caught us though, but neither has said anything to me." Frankie said. "Why did I have to go and make things more complicated…"she growled in her frustration, "I really, _really_ like the both of them, but I can't trust the both of them to work together. I feel like I'm cheating on Jackson with Holt sometimes, and Holt with Jackson…it's no better than when I thought they were two separate people…Now I keep thinking that I should kiss Jackson soon because I kissed Holt, but I want him to be the one to kiss me…" she slumped in her seat. Across from them, she could see Abbey look at her and give her a small, sympathetic smile much like Draculaura had given her. Frankie groaned and covered her face with her hands as that confirmed that Abbey knew, and so by extension, Heath. And she knew that Heath had a way of letting things slip that was almost as bad as Draculaura; it was probably a good thing that the two of them didn't work out as a couple.

Luckily for her, the bus arrived at town and ended that conversation for now. The morning passed quickly as the group made short work of the boutiques around town, the servants carrying more and more as lunch approached. Cleo had to be reminded by Ghoulia that she should probably reign herself in a bit to make sure that the servants would be able to do their job of keeping up security. At lunch, the girls made sure to phone their parents, especially since that detail in the morning had been overlooked by all but Cleo because of all the excitement.

They all returned back to the resort to head over to their appointment at the spa, Frankie making sure to avoid going anywhere near the courts or swimming pool to make sure her conversation with Jackson could be put off for a little longer. She could see them at the pool though, and was about to ask either Draculaura or Clawdeen if she should just run over there quick when Ghoulia remarked that they probably should bring along their swimming suits for the mud baths.

"Oh, good idea. I almost had forgotten about that." Cleo said. "You forget something like that?" Abbey asked as they entered into their cabin. "Well, I do have a lot on my mind," Cleo said pointedly, "but I was thinking about how the lounging area is supposed to have aromatic candles and authentic Egyptian oils as well as other luxurious ways to cleanse oneself from stress." Cleo remarked. The girls hurried to gather their things to make it to their appointment, effectively forcing Frankie not to dwell too long on her boy troubles.

"Oooh….and they have lotions that will give a more "sun-kissed" glow to any creature, and it smells like chocolate. I bet Clawd would like that too." Draculaura said. Clawdeen smirked at her friend, trying to imagine her with any sort of tan. She shook her head and said, "I'm sure you smell sweet enough to him anyway. Let's not get too carried away."

Hurrying out of the cabin with the servants in tow, neither of them noticed that the table and flowerpot had been replaced despite not having notified the staff at the resort to replace it.

* * *

The guys had spent the morning playing some of the offered games at the courts before heading over to the arcade. They had been doing pretty well until Holt's actions led to Heath unexpectedly knocking Deuce's glasses off and one of the staff was turned to stone. After that, they had opted to get an early lunch at that grill place again that Heath and Holt hadn't gone to yet. After a quick lunch they had returned briefly to their cabin to change for the pool, which is where the girls had glimpsed them on their way to the spa.

Jackson was back with them and had been settled on one of the chairs, looking through some pamphlets and what looked like a manual of some sort. "Jackson, what are doing?" Clawd asked, ignoring the game of keep away that Deuce and Heath were playing with one of the soft balls that were meant to be provided to the children at the resort.

"I'm reading about the Gremlin Gusts aerial tours that go out every afternoon. I like airplanes, so I thought I'd read up on it before suggesting it to the girls later." He said, moving so he was in a more upright sitting position so he could take a sip of his drink. "It's interesting how they got it to work…" He lead on, intending to talk more with Clawd about it until Clawd waved and cut him off, "So why the manual? This is supposed to be a vacation." He asked.

"Like I said-it's interesting to me. I don't really get all the technical stuff, but I can understand most of it. Besides, the majority of this is promotional material that details the different kinds of tours that you can ask for." He said, taking off his glasses. "Heads up by the way." He warned Clawd, who wasn't able to avoid getting hit in face with the squishy ball. That probably wouldn't have been so bad if Deuce hadn't also followed the ball, knocking the both of them under water. Jackson laughed, as did Heath, before realizing he should probably seek safety from his friends somewhere. That happened to be his cousin who had yet to really enter the water beyond the first few laps that he did when they had all first gotten in.

"So cuz'? How about we do that practice session now?" he asked running over to him and putting his wet arm around him. "Aw, Heath, you got me soaked. Fine. Let me get my stuff first." He said, picking up his thick magazine and putting his shoes on. Turning to grab his towel he saw that Heath had already grabbed it was using it to dry off. "Forget yours, did you?" he asked.

"Nah. I figured I could just borrow yours." Heath teased, pushing his cousin along as Clawd and Deuce looked over their way. One of Cleo's servants got up and followed them out to the cabin's "yard" area where they got to practicing.

"Alright, we better make this a short lesson." Heath said, rubbing the towel over his face once more before tossing on the ground by the backdoor. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry again."

"You are always hungry." Jackson said, amusement in his voice. Heath smirked at his cousin, "I'm surprised you're not. I'm guessing it's a fire elemental thing…y'know…fire always need to be fed. Elementals are known to take on the characteristics of their element, although I have no idea what water elementals or earth elementals must always need, let alone air elementals….guess they're always passing gas." He said, laughing at how hilarious he thought himself to be.

"Well, I guess that other half of me overrides that appetite. Might be why I can only do so much with this thing." Jackson said, scrunching up his face as he concentrated on making a small flame in his hand. Not getting beyond the usual golf ball sized flame for a few seconds before giving up and shaking his hand to get rid of the flame.

"Yeah…is your 'other half' more like another two halves?" Heath asked, rolling his eyes at Jackson's lack of effort. He walked behind Jackson to get him to stand up straighter and hold his arms differently. Heath continued, "Y'know, since there's whatever Holt is and then the normie part of you?"

"You mean am I really half fire elemental, a _quarter_ percent whatever Hyde is, and a quarter normie?" Jackson said, emphasizing what half of a half was to his cousin. Heath just shrugged and motioned for Jackson to try again. "No…I think Holt is like normie to the extreme or something, added strength, stamina, speed…but he looks blue because of whatever my great-grandfather did to bring out that transformation. He only has his other characteristics because he, technically being me, is also half elemental but able to be more aware of it since he's also far less restrained in just about everything he does…that make sense?" he said, waving his hands around as he tried to come up with the explanation that he had thought about often.

"Yeah. Sure. You lost me about halfway through…just make a fireball and toss it at me already." Heath said, getting ready to catch and absorb the flame should his cousin ever start. Jackson sighed and gave it his best attempt, making another ball of flame slightly larger than the last and trying to control the direction he tossed it. Unfortunately, that managed to be about three feet in front of him on the ground. Running a hand down his face, he said, "Yeah…that's…all I got."

"Seriously man?" Heath said. "I know this is new stuff to you, like, this…"he said, gesturing to Jackson as himself, earning a deadpan look from Jackson. "But you diffused a bomb. Clearly you're smart enough to figure something out to help focus…or maybe that's just it." Heath trailed off, scratching his head.

"What?" Jackson asked. He was eager to get in some sort of practice before the others showed up again, and despite what he had said to Heath a moment ago, he was slightly hungry too. He considered this a test of his patience too in dealing with Heath as his teacher. There were moments of praising himself, moments of setting himself and other things on fire that didn't exactly inspire confidence, and then there were the moments that Heath showed he really did understand and provided Jackson with genuine, worthwhile advice.

"Maybe you're thinking too hard about it. Over-analyzing." Heath said. "Dad told me the same thing when I began to have more trouble controlling when I started to flame up." While Jackson had a hard time believing that Heath could ever expend too much energy thinking on anything except possibly Abbey, he had to admit to himself that it was a valid point. "Just try to focus on that core thing I was telling you about, feel the warmth and let the flame come out."

Jackson sighed again and bounced on his feet, readying to try again and shaking his arms out. Heath got ready to catch again, looking more like he was getting ready to receive a pass from Clawd. Jackson tried to find that warmth, taking a moment until he did and let out a small flame from his hands. This one at least made it a little farther, but fizzled out just before reaching Heath. Heath gave him look that clearly asked, _what happened there?_

"Okay. Let me try one more time." Jackson said. Heath shrugged but got ready again. Jackson closed his eyes this time, finding the warmth and then trying to think about something else that made him feel warm…his mother's hugs, his father's praise,…Frankie. With that thought, he was able to make a flame reach all the way to Heath and cause him to flail a little as he caught it and squashed it between his hands before it could ignite the surrounding grass and trees.

"Hah! I told you I could get you to do it. That's why I'm awesome." His cousin said in a roundabout sort of way of complimenting Jackson's improvement. "Whatever you thought about just then, _that_ feeling is what you need to concentrate on. Finding that core warmth seems to be where the problem is. After that, you can work on making a flame show up on command." Heath said, smiling.

Jackson smiled, pleased with his improvement but not willing to ever admit what he had been thinking about to cause his success. Not that Heath seemed overly curious, either because he already had some clue about it or was too concerned with checking to see if the guys were back. He was trying to look around the servant that had been watching the whole practice, but he wasn't budging.

"C'mon. Let's head inside and get dressed. We should try to meet up with the girls soon anyway. I wonder what they'll want to do for dinner?" he mumbled as they walked into the cabin. As much as they were enjoying the food in the resort's and town's restaurants, they weren't able to keep up with Cleo's insistence that there be something new and exciting for them every night. A typical attitude of hers, but probably also the result of not wanting to make a routine that could be used against them.

"Well, we do have a working kitchen here." Jackson commented. Heath gave a short laugh. "Yeah, and do you know if any of us is any good with cooking?" he asked, sitting down on the couch in the common room and turning the television on.

"I thought we were getting changed?" Jackson asked. Heath waved his question off, stretching his legs out over the table to make himself more comfortable. "I'll get to it."

Jackson walked into the kitchen and looked around, making his way to the pantry to see if anything had been stocked in it by either the staff or the servants. Debris from Abbey's demolition was still on the floor and so he bent down to get rid of it. Tossing it into the trash bin outside, he walked back in and was disappointed to find that it was as empty as he had expected. "Hey Heath?" he shouted out from the pantry, "…want to see what that general store by the park area has?"

"Huh?" his cousin asked. Before he could respond, Ghoulia walked in with Clawd and Deuce. She must have taken advantage of the spa being close enough to the pool to leave with them back to the cabin. There must have been something going on with the girls to make her want to end her afternoon with them earlier.

"Hey dude!" Deuce greeted Heath on the couch, plopping down next to him as Clawd made his way upstairs. Ghoulia moaned out a hello as well, heading into her room presumably to grab her computer for something. Jackson came back out of the pantry after having inspected the door that they had discovered. As interesting as it was, he couldn't help but think that if there was one tunnel that connected to random places, there may be another that wasn't so random.

Coming back into the room, Ghoulia sat down in one of the chairs by the window and began to type away. "Hey dude." Deuce repeated again to Jackson. "Hey." Jackson responded. Clawd came back downstairs and was going to find a seat to watch the stunt show Heath had put on when Jackson spoke up. "Anybody want to head over to the store by the park area? We can get something to make here tonight?" Clawd looked like he was considering it, but decided against it, saying, "It might just be a safer move to let the girls pick out what they wanna do. We can suggest it to them when they get back." He said, sitting in another armchair and practically immediately becoming engrossed in the show.

Jackson huffed and was about to just join in when Ghoulia spoke up from the window. "Sure." Jackson said, "We can go together whenever you're done with your computer." Ghoulia gave a thumbs up and returned to typing again for another minute before appearing to be satisfied with what she had pulled up. Calling him over, she had to look up from her screen when he didn't immediately come over. Jackson was usually the one out of the guys to be paying attention. But he was like any other guy, and she found him leaning over the back of the couch watching the show as a stunt man did some ridiculous move. Calling out to him again a little louder, she managed to get his attention.

"Oh! Yeah…sorry." He said, getting up and walking over to her. She nodded. "Okay. Give me a sec then. I need to put real shorts on and get some money." He said, walking back into his room and emerging again ready to go a couple of minutes later. Making their way out with the same servant that had followed Heath and Jackson, they arrived at the store after a quick walk.

"So what were you looking at back at the cabin? Was it so important that you couldn't wait to check on it when the girls were done?" he asked, picking up one of the hand baskets. He intended to only get a few things, not having much money on him and knowing only how to make a few things anyway. Ghoulia answered him as they reached the macaroni aisle. "Oh. I didn't think you'd be able to get access to the building history of the resort. Makes sense though…I was just wondering about any more hidden passages myself. Did you find anything?" Jackson asked as he picked up the ingredients he needed. She nodded and promised to show him once they were back at the cabin, trying to tell him something else with the way she had been glancing at the servant that had been following them. Jackson did his best to look without being too obvious, but wasn't seeing what she did.

Paying for their things, Jackson and Ghoulia returned to the cabin to find the guys in the same position, Heath still wearing his swim trunks. Setting up in the kitchen, Jackson began to make a surprise dinner for everyone, hoping to impress Frankie too. Ghoulia walked back in with her computer and showed him the screen that had the schematics of their cabin displayed. She pointed to an area under her room that looked like there was meant to be empty space, possibly the newly discovered corridor. Jackson nodded his head and continued with getting things ready as Deuce wandered in and looked over the things Jackson had bought as additional backup just in case. Looking to Jackson for permission to indulge in his secret pleasure, Jackson gave him a nod and Deuce started in to cook up something else. As the boys were busy cooking, Ghoulia narrowed in on one area that was by Abbey and Frankie's room on the opposite end of the first floor from where they were currently standing in the kitchen. It looked like there was a false wall put in, possibly for foundation reasons to support the second floor with the bedrock that the builders had to construct around. But it was still concerning and she suggested that they check it out later. He agreed and put the dishes in the oven with his homemade macaroni and cheese – not too surprising, but still different from going out again. He hoped that whatever Deuce was crafting would serve as enough of a fancy plate for everyone that it would suffice for a full meal. And they could still go out after if they wanted too, especially if the three dishes weren't enough for all of them. Going back into the common room, they joined the others on the couch to wait for dinner to be cooked and the others to get back, Ghoulia typing away at her computer.

A half hour later the girls walked in, giggling among each other. "Is that all you guys did today?" Clawdeen asked disbelievingly, considering they could have done that at home. "No. Of course not. We spent a lot of time at the pool and playing at the courts." Clawd answered his sister.

"What is that smell?" Abbey asked, drawing the others' attention to the savory scent in the air. "Yeah. I smelled it all the way down the hill."Clawdeen said, following her nose into the kitchen. Cleo followed and remarked, "Oh. That's a surprise. It'll be different. Then we could go back to the pool after."

Frankie put down her things next to the couch and asked, "Who decided to cook?", although she could probably guess out of the four of them. Ghoulia answered, letting Deuce off the hook, and Frankie laughed, "Then I bet I know what it is. That's so sweet of you Jackson."

The others noticed how the girls were oohing and aahing over how sweet and thoughtful Jackson was, Deuce giving him a playful shove. "You're gonna make us look bad."

Clawd agreed, "Yeah…Draculaura might start to expect these sorts of treats more often" he said. Jackson shrugged, "Hey. I asked you to come along. You could have taken credit then."

Shortly afterward, they were digging in to dinner, served on paper plates and with plastic utensils. Cleo had made a face at this, and made her opinions known to Deuce who just told her to relax and enjoy it. His snakes bobbed their heads with his advice, causing her to have to agree; although she thought him making himself look cute to get what he wanted was something she was supposed to do. Still, she seemed to be content. Draculaura sat next to Clawd and were talking while Clawd took another helping, suggesting to Jackson, "Bacon in this would have been even better."

"Oh no. This is perfect just the way it is." Draculaura said, giving her boyfriend a look. Clawdeen snickered and jumped in to save her brother, "Bacon makes a lot of things better. Your dating a carnivore there, you should be prepared."

Draculaura sheepishly shrugged and said no more on the topic, although Heath also made a few comments on the benefits of bacon. Abbey was actually listening as though this was a serious discussion – apparently she was serious about trying to learn more about what her boyfriend liked and disliked.

"So, anyone have any ideas of what to do tomorrow?" Frankie asked. Ghoulia moaned out that there was a living history museum in the normie side of town that was open and they could check out. It wasn't exactly something that everyone other than Frankie, Ghoulia or Jackson would be jumping to check out, but her suggestion of checking out the different vendors that were supposed to sell reproductions of items and clothes was enough to get the others to agree. "How about one of those Gremlin Gusts tours?" Jackson suggested.

The others paused to consider it, Frankie speaking up first, "That sounds fun. I'd like to go." Clawdeen snickered, "We know you would", causing Frankie to blush at her eagerness. Cleo tapped her chin, thinking, "Aren't those things completely automated – no pilot- and kind of small?" she asked.

"C'mon. Don't worry too much about that. Jackson's been reading about them all day…" Clawd said, ignoring Jackson's interjection of "Not all day…" to argue, "If he suggests it, then it's probably safe to consider taking."

"We could book it tonight at the lobby and be able to go tomorrow afternoon." Draculaura suggested, although not overly eager to take the tour. They finished up dinner and cleaned up the table as quickly as they could to go get ready to check out the pool at night. The electromagnetic field that covered the triangle was supposed to make the water supernaturally glow different colors.

Walking to the hot tub and pool area, Cleo, Ghoulia, and Deuce made their way over to the front desk to make the appointment. Ghoulia looked to Jackson and then at one of the servants, which Jackson noticed was the one that had been following him around all day yesterday and that day. It could have just been a coincidence, since it was their job after all, but it was still strange. Getting to the pool, they could tell that the light show wasn't an exaggeration. The water was indeed different colors but there were also some spotlights circling around too that changed with the water. Jackson was about to comment on what Ghoulia was telling him earlier when Frankie pulled him toward the water. As much as he would have enjoyed spending the evening in the pool with her, especially since Frankie didn't normally want to go swimming even with the others around, the lights were a bit much and he could guess that at some point someone was going to have the music turned on to replace the softer musical background noise. He figured he might as well let Holt out to spend some time with Frankie too if he was going to get the most of tomorrow with her; Holt had only been out a couple times so far with the theater performance and with the guys earlier at the courts and arcade.

"I don't really think this is something I might find relaxing…"he said to Frankie, "and it would probably be fair to let Holt out too." He was hoping that she would protest and want him to stay with her, considering that she seemed pleased with his surprise dinner. Instead she turned to him and said, "Would you mind? I actually would like to talk with him about last night." Disappointed, he nodded and was about to turn his phone on and connect it with the unattended sound system by the pool, when he turned to tell her, "Make sure to ask Ghoulia about what she and I were talking about earlier. She should know what I'm talking about."

"What?" Frankie asked, but Jackson had already pressed play and with the speakers blaring loudly, she was standing next to Holt.

"Whoa! What a lightshow…and the pool ain't too bad either." Holt said, pulling Frankie closer and she found that she couldn't pull away even if she had really wanted to. So she opted to be more playful, hopefully to get him to be more open to talking. She was able to twist enough in his arms, smiling as he tickled her a little as she moved, and making as though to kiss him, she pushed him into the water. Of course, she also went in with him, splashing Clawd and Draculaura who had been sitting at the pool's edge. Heath was sitting in the hot tub and leaning over the wall that connected to the pool to talk with Abbey, pointing over to the area where Frankie and Holt had submerged themselves.

Resurfacing a moment later, Holt shook his head to get the water out of his eyes before shouting, "Yo! What are you getting at there, Ms. Fine Stein?" Frankie laughed a little, having more fun than she had intended to, already feeling the effects of being wet in her bolts. _So much for a serious conversation_, she thought, _then again I am with Holt_.

"I wanted to make sure I had your attention." She said, swimming away and towards the area of the pool that was currently glowing a green not too different from her own skin tone. She and Draculaura had ultimately opted for that "sun-kissed" guaranteed lotion, but it didn't do much more than make them smell like chocolate and feel more energized. Holt swam over to her, and she tried again to talk with him.

"I was kinda hoping you and I could talk about last night." She said. He turned and did some backstrokes around her. "What about it? It was fantastic, right? You and I should spend way more time together now that you're lettin' me." He stopped swimming circles around her like a shark to ask, "Did you tell the normie yet? Or is that why you wanted me to help ya' out?"

Somehow he was able to guess her motivations, making her realize that she and Holt really did get along well together. "Um…well…I haven't had the chance to bring it up yet…and I was wondering if you could not bring it up either. Don't taunt him or anything. I care for you both." She said, making her way to the wall so she could get her upper half out of the water at least.

"Yeah…but you kissed me. And you kissed _me_ first. Girl knows what she wants." He said, leaning against the wall next to her, laying his head back in a way that indeed did make her want to kiss him again. "I'm good with just doin' what feels good and that means I won't tell…right away…if you promise not to run away from me again." He said.

"No!" she said, causing him to look at her in confusion. "No to which part? The hanging out with me, or the telling the normie?" he asked.

"No." she said again, trying to find the best way to continue. Unfortunately, she wasn't making any sense to Holt. "I mean, no I don't want to not hang out with you, no don't tell him…I'll get to it. I'm trying to treat you both equally. Look, I asked Jackson for _you_ to spend the night _with me_…" she rushed to say, only to start sparking when she realized what that sounded like. Holt clearly did too as his eyes comically widened.

"Oohh…not that like. I didn't mean it like that." She said, pushing off the wall and swimming as fast as she could over to where Abbey was. Holt made to follow her, shouting out, "What?!"

Frankie turned to talk with him, to find that he was pretty much on top of her already – enhanced strength and speed and all. "I just meant that, I asked him to start splitting up the time more so that I can spend the vacation with the both of you." She said.

Holt leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, Heath whistling from his spot in the hot tub. Frankie really hoped that it was just him who saw, breaking away from Holt and suggesting, "How about we head over to the hot tub?"

"I think we can heat things up right here." Holt said. Frankie blushed and did her best to swim away. "Still…I think the hot tub sounds nice. You can join me if you want…" she said, hoping her ruse would work. Luckily it did and they joined Heath in the tub, Frankie making a point to avoid the looks he and Abbey were sending her way. Honestly, Abbey could be as mischievous as Heath but was more adept at keeping her face passive until the last possible moment when she would give her characteristic short chuckle. At that point, Deuce, Cleo and Ghoulia returned to announce their tour for tomorrow after lunch. Celebratory cheers were shared among the group as they got settled either in or around the pool.

"Oh, Ghoulia? Can I talk to you for a second?" Frankie asked, remembering what Jackson had said to her before her embarrassing discussion with Holt. Getting out of the tub she walked over to where Ghoulia was lounging by the pool to talk with her.

"Sooo, what was that about in the pool?" Heath asked Holt once Frankie had left, drawing out the question to let him know that he had seen them, for all intents and purposes, frolicking in the pool.

"Yes. What was that all about? You got Clawd and I all wet!" Draculaura said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not that we weren't planning on getting in, but that is not the point."

"Nah, it was nothin'" Holt said, "Sorry 'bout that though. Frankie was just telling me how she asked Jackson to let me out so she and I could spend the night _together_…" he said, knowing it would get his cousin going. Just as expected, Heath stammered as he tried to make a response and his hair started to flame. "Heath, the tub is hot enough, thank you!" Clawdeen said as more steam rapidly appeared around them.

"Agreed" Cleo said, "I'm all for therapeutic saunas but I've had enough spa treatment for today." Heath subdued his fire and looked apologetically at his friends, wincing a little when Deuce took his tinted glasses off to wipe the steam off of them. Holt had been laughing the entire time at everyone's reactions, including when Heath thought Deuce was threatening to turn him to stone again.

"Holt! What did you do?" shouted Frankie from her spot next to Ghoulia, wondering how it was possible for him to hear the music still playing making as much of a commotion as he does. Shaking her head, she turned back to Ghoulia, "Wow. I'll help you out later. I'm sure Abbey will too. Assuming we aren't all exhausted once we get back. We can always look tomorrow." She said. Ghoulia seemed like she would have rather done it tonight, but had to agree that she would probably rather just sleep once they got back. With that plan in mind, they enjoyed the rest of the night at the pool.

* * *

The next morning the group ended up sleeping in late, as was typical of teenage monsters. Finally getting out and into town, they spent a couple of hours wandering around the museum. They had missed the reenactment that was earlier, but Draculaura filled them in on what most likely had been a part of the show. There was to be another demonstration later, but the group satisfied themselves by looking at the artifacts and making their way to the stands where all the little souvenirs were to be found. It was more fun than they had thought a museum would have been, with more opportunities to look at things on their own and to interact with scavenger hunts throughout the site.

Finishing up there, with the servants and the boys carrying most of the souvenirs, they thought they might have lunch at the café down the street from the museum with its historic theme making it seem like they were still there. While there, Ghoulia nudged Cleo and whispered something in her ear. Obviously trying not to look too distressed by whatever was said to her, Cleo quickly looked over her servants who were standing nearby. Turning to Deuce, she whispered to him as well. Putting his drink down, Deuce said to the group, "We might want to hurry this up a bit. Don't want to be late for the tour." He said.

"Okay." Draculaura agreed. She was a little bummed – she had hoped that she could see a boovie with Clawd or something. She didn't mind double dates, but she would have liked to spend more alone time with her boyfriend. Seeing a new boovie would make it seem like they were by themselves. Clawd had picked up on her mood, "Everything alright?" he asked.

"Hmm…? Oh. I'll tell you later." She said. Clawdeen was about to say something when her phone rang. She liked to make sure the ringtone was up all the way so she wouldn't miss a call, but she couldn't believe who was calling her. Staring at the screen to make sure she was reading it right before she answered, she let the music play out. Jackson covered his ears with Frankie's help. "Answer it already." Frankie said. But Clawdeen wasn't so sure she wanted to answer it when she had processed that it read "Thad". She hadn't seen or heard from him in a long time.

Before she could though, the call ended and made the choice for her. "What was that all about?" Cleo asked, anxious to get everyone moving back to cabin. She wanted to check on what Ghoulia had said to her about the extra wall and the servants. "It was Thad." Clawdeen said in disbelief.

"Oooh!" Draculaura screeched. Yet again she had made her friends wince. "You gotta keep that to a minimum there D'." Clawd said, rubbing the ear that his girlfriend had yelled into. "Oh, sorry…accident." She said. "But see? I told you he really liked you. Call him back." She said to her friend.

"What? I haven't heard from him in ages and he suddenly calls? No." Clawdeen said. It was a little weird, but she thought she might end up calling him later.

"Well we can all think about this little drama on the way back to the hotel." Cleo said, standing up after paying for the meal. Picking up on the fact that Cleo desperately wanted to go, the others collected their things and made their way back to the bus. Dropping things off at the cabin, Cleo was about to suggest to the others that they take a look around when Abbey checked the time.

"We must be going if we are to be making to the tour on time. Is very important to be on time." She said. Biting her lip, Cleo looked to Deuce who shrugged and put an arm around her as they walked back outside. Ghoulia also groaned in agreement, noticing how Deuce looked as though he wanted to whisper something to Cleo. As Deuce walked them outside, he pulled Cleo aside a bit and whispered in her ear.

"We'll walk to the airfield with the others and then turn back. The others can take the tour - make it look like we all were getting on. Then you and me, Ghoulia -and maybe we can get a couple others to come with us – will check things out."

She nodded and walked to catch up with Ghoulia to tell her the plan. Ghoulia also nodded, looking back to Deuce. The others had been walking ahead, with Abbey at the lead with Heath. Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura were walking together, no doubt discussing the phone call from lunch. Jackson had been walking mostly by himself and Deuce jogged over to walk with him, noticing the servants that were following a few paces behind.

Placing an arm around Jackson as though he had been planning on just teasing him, Deuce said to his friend quietly to not arouse suspicion, "Something's up with the servants. Cleo wants some of us to double back, make it look to them like we all got on that plane so we can snoop around."

Catching on, Jackson replied, "I know. Ghoulia and I were talking about it. I think you should ask Clawd to help with looking around; his nose could really help out. Draculaura will most likely want to come with him, no questions asked. You can fill him in later." He whispered back, "I'd suggest just turning them into stone, but if the mole doesn't report back to whoever's doing this, it might make things worse."

"You want to come too?" he asked Jackson but the other boy shook his head. "No. I think they may have caught onto my suspicions – that and they probably will want to keep track of me if they think I can pull off another trick like the bomb thing." He said. Deuce gave him a pat on the back. "Thanks Jackson. I'm glad I've got such a good friend. Smart too." He said a little louder so as to not draw out the whispered conversation and be obvious to the servants who were the moles. Still, it made Jackson smile and feel like he was appreciated for being him. "As long as you keep getting me out of trouble with the jerks at school I think we're even." He said. Deuce laughed, adding, "Sure. Unless you'd prefer it to be Frankie doing in the saving…" he said, causing his friend to groan at him.

"Does everyone have to keep reminding me…yes, I'm well aware I need saving from a girl and can admit it…" Jackson said, "…it just means I get to see her more often if I look on the bright side."

Deuce was amused by the idea of Jackson willingly letting himself get set up in those situation just to see if Frankie might come to his aid. _Hey_, he thought, _if it works for him_. "Glad you're doing better though than before we left. Nasty cold, huh?" he said. Jackson agreed with him on that, but threw his hand up in the air in mock irritation, "Well now you've jinxed it. What am I gonna do now?" he whined. Deuce pushed him off to the side a little, "You'll just have to let Frankie save you."

Hearing her name, Frankie turned around from the group she had been walking with. "Yeah, Deuce?"

Deuce was about to answer her, but Jackson cut him off to prevent any further embarrassing situations, "Nothing Frankie. We're good." Shrugging, she turned back to her conversation with Clawdeen and Draculaura.

"Nice goin'" Jackson said, feeling all the more frustrated when all Deuce gave him in response was a knowing little smile.

* * *

Waiting to board the plane, Cleo spoke to her servants to say that they would have to board the plane through one of the terminals and that they wouldn't be able to all fit in the confined space. She suggested that the wait for them in the lounge area that had been set up in the hangar. While she and Ghoulia were standing and talking to the security servants, Deuce tried as quickly as he could to explain things again to everyone else.

"We're gonna split up to check up on something Ghoulia and Jackson found suspicious. Clawd can you come back with us once we give these guys the slip?" Deuce asked. "I'll explain more on the way."

"I'll come with you." Draculaura said, as predicted. Heath and Abbey looked at one another before she asked. "How many of us needed to go on tour for them to believe we all got on plane?"

Clawdeen answered as Deuce paused to think about it, "However many seats are by windows, so…"

"Probably only five - one for each of the side windows and one to sit closer to the front where all the automated equipment is." Jackson filled in, having already read up on just about everything about the plane. Clawdeen nodded and sighed. "I guess I'll join you guys on the tour then. Clawd can help with the sniffing around."

Having decided on who would go on the tour and who would stay behind to snoop around, they finished up on their plan of action as Cleo and Ghoulia walked over to them. "Okay. They're going to stay in the lobby and watch the plane take off before they are going to head back to the main lobby. I convinced them that my father might try to contact me when we are out since I haven't heard from him lately." Cleo said. "We just have to wait in the boarding tunnel long enough for them to head out and then sneak back to the cabin."

"Good luck then guys." Heath said, grabbing Abbey's hand as they made to sit on one of the benches while the plane was being checked over once more for their trip. It was taking longer than they had thought, but it gave them time to check things out. Jackson meanwhile had made his way over to the vending machine and had been buying what seemed like the entire stock of granola bars that were in it.

"Hungry are ya?" Frankie asked from behind, startling him. Jackson shrugged and reached in to grab his third granola bar and stuffed it into his pocket. "With the way things are going, it's better to be prepared for anything. Besides, I like granola."

Frankie rolled her eyes. "Well then, here." She said, handing him all the one dollar bills she had on her. "You bought, and made, dinner last night. It's the least I can do." She said. Seeing that he was about to protest, Frankie shoved it into his hand, leaving no room for argument. "Thanks." He said, and turned back to the machine to get another snack. She leaned up against the side of the vending machine and watched him for a few moments as he bought out the rest of the granola bars and moved on to the other kinds of bars in the machine. Uneasy under her stare, he looked back up at her. "Everything okay?" he asked.

Pushing herself away from the machine, she rubbed her arms. "Considering we volunteered to play decoy in a situation like this…I'm about as okay as to be expected." Jackson broke eye contact with her and continued to stuff his pockets until there wasn't much room left for anything else. "I know. But it should be over soon and when we all get back together after the flight, we can figure things out together." He said, walking them both back over to where the others were seated.

"We are on time, yes?" Abbey asked as she looked on the wall to check the clock. Clawd and Deuce got up to see if they could find someone who worked there, but luckily it was at that time that one of the staff walked out and announced that they were all set and went behind the counter.

The group all made their way into the boarding tunnel, with Cleo, Deuce, Ghoulia, Clawd and Draculaura hanging back once out of sight from the servants. Clawdeen and Frankie sat on one side next to the windows, and Heath and Abbey on the other. Jackson opted for the front seat, making sure that the servants who he could see looking out from the hanger could see him and only him through that window. They all waited anxiously as the plane started to move and the boarding tunnel slowly moved away from them, their friends waving to them from inside. The plane turned and they were off down the runway, the next of the planes rolling into place beside the boarding tunnel. They could only hope that their friends were able to give the servants the slip as they could no longer clearly see either of them. The small plane, resembling more of the reports of triangular UFOs that were witnessed rather than a plane shape, lifted off and they let out a collective breath.

"Well that was exciting." Clawdeen remarked snidely. "Now we get to sit here and do nothing to help our friends."

"We do important job." Abbey pointed out, getting up to move toward the seat next to Heath. Frankie also got up to get a better look out the front window, as did Clawdeen.

"You have to admit though," said Heath, "this is a pretty awesome view." Clawdeen couldn't find anything to say to that. Trying to make the most of things, she sat down opposite Abbey and away from Frankie. "Yeah. Might as well enjoy it."

* * *

Watching as the servants left the hanger and walked back to the main building, Cleo and the others made their way as quickly as they could back to the cabin. "One of us should stay by the window and keep watch, just in case they decide to come back here" Deuce said as they trekked up the hill.

"I can do that. I can even do it from the roof- longer range of visibility." Draculaura offered. "I can see if there is anything on the sides of the cabin too." Clawd was impressed with his girlfriend's suggestion.

"Alright, but stay safe." He agreed as they rest entered through the door as quietly as they could.

Walking inside warily in case there should be anyone else in the cabin, a quick look around let them know that there wasn't anyone that they could immediately see. Ghoulia pulled out her computer to pull up the plans she had hacked into from the resort's most recent remodeling and building plans.

"They only finished rebuilding the cabins a few months ago in time for the break." Deuce read, his snakes moving about every which way as though keeping guard. "So then, how could these attackers know where they could plant traps or anything?" Clawd asked aloud.

Ghoulia was starting to type something out but, looking at the screen again, she paused. Tossing aside the computer away as quickly, but carefully, as she could, she looked around the common room again.

"What is it Ghoulia?" Cleo asked in confusion, unable to figure out what might have caused her friend to act the way she was. "I thought we were supposed to go check out the…" Cleo began before Ghoulia motioned for them to be quiet. Looking around the rest of the first floor, she moved as fast as was possible for a zombie up the stairs. Reaching the top she noticed the flowers and table, beginning to inspect it. The other table had been severely dented and a crack had begun to form in the middle from how it had hit the floor. This looked like it might be the same table, but the pot was obviously different. Yanking out the flowers she realized they were fake and had been covering up some tiny electrical device – a bug, thought Ghoulia; one that had been picking up on all their plans and scanning their phones….and her computer.

"What is…"started Deuce before Ghoulia motioned for him to keep quiet about the pot by making an 'x' sign with her hands after pointing to it. Picking up on that, Clawd said to him in his attempt to act naturally, "That...is...a ball…I….won yesterday at the arcade."

Deuce responded with, "Oh…of course…I didn't see it before" as he walked over to the table in their room from the hallway to pick up the pad of paper and pen. Cleo opened her mouth in an 'o' as she comprehended what was going on. Ghoulia took the pad and quickly wrote out – _"__Someone has, and is, listening in on us. They may have gotten the idea of the false wall from my computer. I'm so sorry."_

Cleo read it and looked at her friend with tears forming in her eyes from her fear and panic. Trying to think of what to say so it wouldn't sound like they had been clued into the bug, Cleo said, "Oh. That's actually my shirt Ghoulia. It doesn't look right on you." Ghoulia was able to read between the lines that Cleo didn't blame her at all, and took the pad back to write something else down when the noise that signaled a call from Cleo's secret communication tool had gone off from her room.

"I'd better go fix that. Deuce, can you help me fix the…new music box from the museum I bought?" she said, sprinting into her room with her boyfriend on her heels. "I doubt they can hear us in here." Deuce said, indicating that the bug was far enough away and the door was closed to block the sound.

"Still…"Cleo said, hurrying to pour a potion into a narrow Egyptian bowl to talk with her father. She was taken by surprise when it was her sister's face that appeared. "Nefera?! What are doing?" she asked. "I thought only dad was supposed to be able to contact me this way…"

"Yeah, well I did pay attention in how to use these things too. But listen. They're going to come for you any minute."

"What? How do you know? Who?" Deuce interjected into the conversation when Cleo wasn't immediately answering.

Ignoring her usual chance at getting in a jibe at Deuce, Nefera said, "Because I was just attacked. Luckily I was able to spot the symbols on one of the servant's sashes – honestly it clashed with the ensemble I had been putting together, that's why I saw it. It wasn't one of ours and when I paralyzed him with one of the amulets I was able to sneak with me, his mask fell off and he had the typical, Assyrian wrappings. These Assyrians have been hired out, or joined forces with whoever was attacking us, using old Hittite amulets that they took when the Hittites fell apart…"she rushed out. "I tried to call dad, but I couldn't get a hold of him – I'm thinking they've been trying to coordinate their attacks so we can't warn each other, like they used to do…the thieves."

Cleo gasped. "We thought we gave them the slip. We were supposed to go on a plane tour…"

"They may have a backup plan…"Nefera said, trailing off. "Why do you think that? Nefera?" Cleo asked as her sister looked at something off to her right.

"Because I can see them coming back…RUN CLEO!" Nefera shouted before she cut off her end of the connection, presumably to try and outwit them once again.

"Nefera! Nefera!" Cleo yelled into the bowl, trying to will her sister to show up again. Deuce put his hand on her shoulders to keep her from sagging onto the floor. "She'll be okay Cleo. We need to do something fast though."

"If they were using old Hittite amulets and potions, it might be why we couldn't tell the difference from them and the other servants…why my magic and your abilities were reflected." Cleo said. Before anything else was said, Draculaura was seen in her bat form smacking at Cleo's window.

Clawd burst through the door, "C'mon. Ghoulia and I checked out the false wall and there's something funky smelling in there…and it sounds like there may be more than rodents in the wall." Right on cue, a bang was heard from below Cleo's room as the attacker's Plan B was being carried out. Ghoulia could be heard giving out a small scream as she tried to get away from the wall.

Cleo also screamed and clung to Deuce. Clawd ran to window and let Draculaura inside the room. "I saw three men coming this way. I followed them as they went into the woods; they climbed down a well – there must be an old well site where the false wall was. I flew back as fast as I could" She said, transforming.

"We have to get to Ghoulia." Cleo said. "I know, but first we have to get you out. Through the hidden door." Deuce said, using himself as cover for Cleo the same way Clawd did for Draculaura as they ran from Cleo's room to theirs. Making their way through the passage and out the back door, they sprinted into the woods.

"But what about Ghoulia?" Draculaura said in desperation. A smashing sound was heard as one of the windows was broken, but they couldn't tell if by their attackers or Ghoulia. Deuce held onto Cleo as she made to get out from her hiding spot to run back to Ghoulia. "Ghoulia will make her way to the main building if she gave them the slip, we can make our way there."

"And if she didn't? What are we supposed to do?" Draculaura said, sobbing as quietly as she could in hiding. Clawd pulled her closer to him as he tried to comfort her. "Ghoulia's smart. Don't doubt her abilities…She'll be okay." He said before quieting as three men made their way out the back door and looked around. One ripped his mask off to yell something at the others in a foreign language. The other two ran into the woods, brushing past the four who had hidden in the bushes closest to the house in the hopes that the men would think they had fled deeper into the woods.

The third man went back into the cabin, slamming the backdoor. "Okay, we gotta be quick. This way." Clawd said, standing up a little more than a crouch.

"Why?" Deuce asked. Clawd pointed to his nose and indicated that he could smell their scent having come from the opposite direction which was another smaller cabin that the servants had been using. "There are definitely a few more of them hiding within the servants. Now that I know what to look out for, I should be able to point them out from the others, but I don't think we want to run into them even if they are with the good guys."

Draculaura nodded and they all crept their way along the side of the cabin, making a bolt for the bottom of the hill as soon as they could, continuing to sprint the rest of the way to the main building. Bursting in, they were relieved to find Ghoulia already standing and talking with the hotel manager about what had happened.

"GHOULIA!" Draculaura and Cleo shouted, crashing into their friend with a fierce hug.

"I'm so relieved to see you're alright." Cleo said. "We all are." Draculaura added, reluctant to let her friend go so quickly. Ghoulia smiled, echoing the sentiment to the others.

"How did you get away?" Deuce asked as the manager brought them into the back room for employees on break while he went to call the authorities. "Yeah, did you break that window?" Clawd asked going to sit in one of the chairs.

Ghoulia explained how she had grabbed one of Frankie's things as she had been flailing to get out of the first man's grip when he had broken through the wall and grabbed her. She had been lucky in picking up one of her charge packs and had slammed it into him, giving him a large jolt. He had been knocked into one of the others as they were coming out of the old well opening and through the wall. They had stumbled into a lamp that had crashed through the window. She had taken the opportunity to get out through the opening and had sprinted back as fast as she could manage to the main building to bring back help. It didn't seem like they wanted to follow her, she told the, or else they might have gotten to her for sure with her inability to move very fast.

"I'm so glad we're all okay." Draculaura said. Deuce nodded and added, "And now that we know who is responsible, we can let your dad know and get them put away."

Cleo gasped and brought a hand to her mouth, "Nefera!" she said, looking at Deuce with wide eyes.

"What?" Draculaura asked. Cleo sat down and explained, "My sister gave us the heads up that something was going to happen. They had gone after her and she couldn't reach dad – we weren't able to try and contact him before everything happened." She shook her head in her frazzled state, "But that's not the worst part. She said that there was probably a Plan B that they would carry out too just in case the original attack didn't work."

"So if you think that this was Plan B…then what was Plan A supposed to have been?" Clawd asked slowly, even though they all pretty much had some sort of idea.

* * *

"This is very pretty sight" Abbey said as she looked out the window. "I think so too." Heath said, making a point to be sure Abbey knew that he was staring at her. She gave him a sideways look. "Don't get too hot-headed Heath, I am a respectable ghoul." She said.

"Hey. I can be cool." He said, laughing at their use of puns. He was enjoying the tour despite his initial thoughts about how boring it was going to be to just look at tree after tree. "Do you know what the kinds of trees are? You said you went camping with Jackson?" she asked, always eager to explore and learn new things.

"Sure. Those are tall trees and those are the green ones…" he started, smiling at her predictable annoyed posture at his antics. "Ha, ha. No…those ones there are the blue pine trees, and the ones that look like that are oak trees." He said, pointing out at the trees. "Don't you have these kinds in your frozen wonderland?" he asked.

"We have some like the pine trees, but there is little variety among the harsh upper mountainous region. We bring in wood mostly in trading with those below where we like to live, to have more to choose from." She said. "I never get to see them in different colors other than brown and gray with maybe some green on them."

"So you build more with ice and snow?" he asked to which she nodded, explaining "Yes, but we use wood too, for to build and to make fire to cook – but it is harder for fire to last in thin air." She said.

"Well then, I can help you with finding a way to keep warm." He said, hugging her from behind, but not activating his flame or heat to make her uncomfortable. He may like to show off in front of others by flaming up after some sort of innuendo, but he knew that just being close to Abbey was incredibly warm for her…and that she enjoyed it despite her icy nature that made her more partial to the cold.

As they were snuggling and enjoying the scenery, Clawdeen sighed while she watched them. She couldn't help thinking about the call she got from Thad, debating on whether or not to call him back even though her friends were encouraging to do so. Even her brother was pushing her, saying that this might the opportunity that they had talked about before vacation for her to find romance. Looking away from those two she was met with a similar sight with Frankie and Jackson. Deciding to try and clear her mind, she looked out the window. They weren't that far above ground, making her think of a high ski lift that let them see for miles around the beauty of the land.

Frankie and Jackson were sitting close to each other up towards the front. She was trying to work up the courage to talk with him about their relationship to one another, especially after Holt had promised he would give her the opportunity, but that she wasn't able to take her sweet time about it. It was beautiful up here and she hoped that it might give her inspiration to talk with him. Jackson was immensely enjoying himself with the tour, listening to the automated recording about the history of the land and the different plants and animals. He was particularly entertained by the automated equipment that was flying the plane. She had to laugh at him as he played the stereotype of the mad scientist so well…not that she was much better about that. They really did understand each other so well, she thought. This side of him and Holt, who gave her the courage to embrace things head-on that Jackson would gently guide and support her on.

"You're staring again." Jackson said, catching Frankie again. "There something you need to tell me?" he asked. She shrugged, but could see that it wasn't going to do much by way of convincing him otherwise. "Do you ever…"she began, biting her lip and looking away from him.

"What is it Frankie? You can always talk to me?" he said. She closed the distance between them and gave him a hug, leaning into his chest long enough that she could hear his heartbeat picking up again. She found that she enjoyed listening to it do that for her, keeping quiet a moment longer.

"Not that I'm complaining, but is everything okay Frankie?" Jackson said. "We are still good friends right?" he said, troubled by the fact that maybe she was trying to be gentle again like the last time she told him – and Holt – that some time apart was good for them. She had said she wasn't actively ignoring him, but he knew she wanted him to get along better with Holt. They were communicating better and dividing time better, but the previous week had the both of them out of sync with themselves, let alone with each other. His illness had just made things worse.

"Well…" Frankie tried again, not doing anything to make Jackson feel better. "Do you and Holt talk more often?" Frankie asked, seemingly out of the blue. Jackson took a second to comprehend what she had asked before replying, "Yeah…we do…but he hasn't had much to say to me lately since the whole fiasco from the week before. We weren't feeling very well…or at least I know I wasn't. Not too sure if he would admit it if he was a little off his game though…Why?"

Frankie released Jackson and sat back up. "Why did you have a cold so long?" she asked, ignoring the question he had directed at her. Deciding not to call her out on it since that was just how Frankie was, he answered, "Normie health isn't like monster health. We get sick more often and it takes us a little longer to get over what might be a day, maybe a day and a half cold for you guys. Like this," he said, gesturing to himself, "I don't seem to really be able to access the monster scaritage that would let me have that kind of an immune system. When I transform, whatever's going on there makes it so that Holt gets the boost rather than me…or so my father has theorized."

"Oh. And I thought the way my parents built me was complicated." She said. "So then whatever you two were doing made it take longer to get over." She reasoned. "At least with this electromagnetic field that's around the hotel I haven't had to deal with my battery getting too low. But I hope it doesn't mess with the polarity in my bolts…" she said.

"So long as there isn't one of those freaky storms that just show up outta the blue, I guess you'll be more than fine" Clawdeen said, startling the two lovebirds apart with how close she was to them and smirking at their response. The last time they had seen her, she was sitting on the other side from Abbey and Heath. The plane was really only big enough for eight at maximum, so they imagined it would have been difficult to stay comfortable with the two extra people, even if Cleo did sit on Deuce's lap the entire time. But they were still surprised that she had closed the distance without letting them pick up on it – animal stealth, they supposed.

"You two are worse than Abbey and Heath with all this angst between you." She said. Frankie turned in her seat to look at her better, "And what about you and Thad?" she asked. Clawdeen tilted her head up and crossed her arms, "I don't know what you're talking about" she said. It was then that her phone decided to go off again, Jackson covering his ears due to her being so close to him already when it started blaring.

"Nothing at all, hmm…"Frankie said, reading Thad's name on the screen again. "Just answer it then." She said. Clawdeen growled but did so anyway.

"Hello?" she answered in a small voice, habitually going to play with her hair at the same time. But all she heard was static. "Hello?" she said a little louder, "Thad?" But there was nothing but static on the other end. She was about to comment on this to Frankie and Jackson when there was an enormous amount of sparking and smoke that started pouring out of the back of the plane and with the automated equipment. Immediately the plane started to drop.

"What was that?!" Abbey shouted, being caught by Heath before hitting the floor after being knocked out of her seat. "Are we goin' down?!" Heath shouted.

Coughing through the smoke that had been in his face, Jackson moved to the controls in an attempt to try to get the machines working again. Hopefully, he could do something with whatever engines were still functioning, considering he was more of a chemist than electrically-inclined in the sciences.

"You can fly an airplane too?" Frankie asked, coming to stand behind Jackson.

"No…but I read all the information available at the resort about these things….it'll be like all my video games. I'm not Ghoulia, but we can try to steer away from the rocky outcrop of the hill we're about to crash into…if these things would stop sparking so much." Frankie sprang forward to try and help him with that, absorbing some of the electricity that was pouring out of the machine so that he could work on it. Together they were able to get the navigation back up. "I don't think this is anywhere we were supposed to be" Frankie said.

"No. But I think we can guess why we were waiting so long…" Jackson said, switching things over to manual and grabbing what passed for the joystick. "I thought you said you couldn't" Frankie shouted.

"And I told you I read up on it…not the same thing, but if I hold it, we won't go into the ground nose first." He said, his voice strained in effort. The others made their way to the front, Clawdeen shouting out, "We should jump out rather than crash. Why aren't there any parachutes or somethin'?"

"Not high enough for them to make a difference now anyway" Jackson shouted back to her.

"Girls get to the other side of the plane. If this thing hits the ground, who knows if it'll stay in one piece" Heath said. "No, we stay." Abbey said.

"He's right though." Jackson said. "It's safer to stay towards the middle, away from the control area and the corners." Looking around at the walls that connected it to the rest of the plane, he said "These things aren't supposed to take too much force from this kind of speed – they're only hover planes. The ends of this triangle will probably break off."

"What about you then?" Frankie shouted out, watching as the ground was getting closer, including the rocky outcrop side of the hill that looked more and more like a cliff face as they approached. Jackson let out a grunt as he managed to keep the controls turned long enough to swerve just enough to avoid crashing straight into it, nearly scraping the bottom of the plane.

"Heath!" he shouted to his cousin, hoping he would know what he was trying to tell him. Heath pulled the girls over to the middle seats of the plane, using a small burst of flame to get them to move. They grabbed onto each other and the seats just as they touched ground, the plane breaking apart unevenly at the tips as expected, including the one with the controls and Jackson.

Screaming out, Heath pulled Frankie and Clawdeen closer together as much as he could, Abbey's grip on his shoulder the only comfort he had that she was still hanging on as they slid on the ground. They could hear the trees hitting the metal sides and the dirt and rocks being tossed upward. Their portion then must have hit a larger boulder that caused it to start rolling and they were all tossed about the cabin a few times before coming to a stop in a crumpled heap.

Heavy breathing could be heard throughout the cabin as the girls and Heath tried to check each other for injuries and to get out of the metal contraption. "Everyone alright?" Heath shouted out, standing up and pushing a piece of metal that had fallen over to block his path to Abbey.

Clawdeen could be heard growling as she was nursing her arm. "Yeah. I think I've just got a pulled muscle – it doesn't seem broken. Hurts like crazy though." She turned to help Frankie find her missing arm that had gotten detached during the tumble. Picking it up, she walked over to her and helped her reconnect it. "Everything else attached?" she asked, looking over her friend.

"Yeah. I'm all here…"she shakily said and then gasped, rapidly starting to try and make her way out of their portion of the plane. "Where's Jackson?!" she screamed, trying to get up higher on some of the nearby rocks to spot his section of the plane. "Jackson?! Jackson?!" she screamed.

"We'll find him." Heath said as he helped Abbey out of the plane. "How can you be so calm? He's your cousin?!" she shouted at him, putting her hands on her head in her panic and frustration at her inability to figure out what next to do.

"I know! Don't you think I'm terrified too?!" he shouted back at her. "But panicking isn't going to help. We need to check ourselves out first to make sure we don't do something stupid."

Abbey nodded, fingering her necklace. "Heath…" she said a little quietly. He turned to her, concerned over her unusual tone. "I may have problem. My necklace…is cracked."

"What?" Clawdeen said, holding on to her arm and walking over to Abbey. Sure enough, there was a tiny crack in one of the crystals. "Can you fix it?" she asked.

Abbey nodded." It shouldn't take too long, but it will make me woozy until I do. I don't think I will be much help to anybody for a while." She said, leaning up against a rock for support.

"But it's not…not too serious is it?" Heath asked, incredibly concerned for his girlfriend. Abbey waved off his concern, "Monsters where I'm from very tough. I will be fine, just…clumsy and slow." Heath went over to her and helped her get her balance, "Luckily it is not so hot that I would just pass out immediately." She said.

"Okay." Heath said, realizing that the other girls were waiting for him to say something. "Okay…"he repeated. "Let's see if we can spot the other areas of the plane. One of them has to have Jackson inside…Look for smoke or…"he trailed off as Frankie already started back up climbing the rocks. "Don't hurt yourself Frankie." He said. She seemed to be the only other one without more than scrapes and bruises, and he would like to keep it that way. He hoped that Jackson wasn't in too rough a shape either.

"Can you see anything?" Clawdeen asked. Frankie shook her hand no, getting frustrated. "Wait there. I'm gonna try to get higher." Climbing up a bit more, she shouted out and pointed, "There's one over there."

"Can we get to it easy?" Clawdeen asked. Frankie shouted back to her, "It's a good walk from here, but it can't be too far. It's a big piece…I think it might be Jackson's". She climbed back down, eager to get to the other piece and Jackson.

"Okay. I'll go with Frankie. You guys gonna stay here?" Clawdeen asked Abbey and Heath. He was about to answer in the affirmative, but Abbey answered for him, "No. We come too. We just go slower"

Heath sighed but figured that this was the best way for him to keep a close watch on her if anything else was wrong. Leaning on him, Abbey said, "Go. We follow." She said, already starting to drop some of her English words in her woozy state.

Frankie and Clawdeen nodded and began to take off in the direction that Frankie had pointed to. "Okay. It's a straight line in this direction. We'll meet you there."

* * *

Walking to the other part of the plane involved crossing through and climbing over the rubble their section had made as it kept going in the other direction. They figured that this was the best way to keep track of where they were going. Finally spotting it, they rushed forward, seeing that it probably had bounced at least once too.

"Jackson?!" Frankie called out, hoping he had made his way out of the plane and was sitting around waiting for them.

"Frankie…"Clawdeen said, "You need to be cautious…" she said, holding her friend back from just rushing over.

"What are you talking about? Of course I know I need to be careful." Frankie said, climbing over a log to get closer.

"No. I know…I just mean that…we need to be prepared 'cuz Frankie…"she paused, waiting for her friend to look at her, "there's a coppery scent in the air that I recognize." She said, trying to avoid saying outright that they could find Jackson in any sort of state.

Frankie's eyes widened, "Well, we're in the middle of the forest. It could be plenty of other animals…either way, we shouldn't stand around." She said. "You can wait here for Abbey and Heath if you want, but I'm going to help Jackson if he's in there." Clawdeen sighed and looked back to see if the others had caught up yet. She was still looking back when she heard Frankie scream. Bolting over to her she looked inside and saw what made her scream.

Jackson was inside, but he wasn't looking too good. He had blood on his forehead, probably from hitting it on the console on impact, which is why his glasses were nowhere to be seen. He was laying on his right side and there was blood on the floor in front of him from a gash in his side, but she couldn't tell just how deep it went – she was hoping he looked worse than the injuries actually were. He had definitely bounced around in here with nothing to hold onto like they'd had in their portion of the plane. Clawdeen was thankful that the others hadn't joined them, especially Dracualura with all this blood.

"C'mon Frankie," she said, "We need to get him out of here." She moved over to where Frankie was kneeling next to him.

Abbey and Heath came running up as fast as was possible for Abbey to move in her condition. "What is it?" Heath asked as Abbey caught her breath. He climbed over the log and looked in, cursing as he saw his cousin. "Is he…" he started, covering his mouth as though he might be sick at the very idea.

"I can't tell with him like this." Frankie said, trying to move Jackson both gently and slowly so as to not make things worse. Heath walked over to help Frankie, who was doing her best to get her arms under his so as to drag him out of the plane.

"I got him Frankie; you grab his legs." He said, and they maneuvered him out on the ground a few steps away from the plane. Once they laid him out, Frankie frantically began to check on him, placing her head gently against his chest. She waited for what seemed an agonizing eternity before finally hearing a slow heartbeat. While elated over this, she did notice the absence of the familiar rhythm of his breathing.

"He's still alive, but he's not breathing!" she shouted out to her friends, smacking Jackson gently on the face. "C'mon Jackson. We're here…just breathe. C'mon!" she fretted. Heath had a hand on his head, trying to figure out how to help his cousin.

"Breathe for him!" Abbey shouted out, snapping Frankie out of her panic long enough to think back on their health classes – she'd have to express her concern over the lack of attention to normie health once they got back, if they ever did.

She opened Jackson's mouth and took a deep breath before breathing into Jackson a few times. She repeated the process, whining a little when it didn't seem like she was getting any response. She checked again to make sure he still had a heartbeat, dismayed when it was barely there at all.

"Don't be such a selfish jerk and take the easy way out. You just had to be a hero, huh?" Heath said, pacing back and forth. Clawdeen reached a hand out to him in a show of comfort but he brushed it away. "Shock him Frankie" he said.

"It's worth a shot. Go for it." Clawdeen said to her friend as Frankie had continued to breathe for Jackson, reluctant to push on his injured chest. "You don't have the time think about it. If it's too much of a jolt he's going to be dead anyway!" she said, knowing that she sounded harsh but hoping it would push her friend to act. It worked and Frankie sent a jolt through Jackson. They were almost instantly rewarded with a response, Jackson's eyes flying open as he sucked in a deep breath.

"Ah! It worked. Oh my ghoul, it worked. I can't believe it worked." Frankie said, elation seen on her face. Heath was immediately helping his cousin sit up so he could breathe easier. "Hey man, no more super agent tricks this vacation. They're starting to do a number on you." He said between happy laughter at having his cousin awake for the moment. "It may look good for the ladies, but now you're just showin' off."

Catching his breath, Jackson looked around at his friends with hazy eyes. He may not be in danger of immediately dying, but his injuries weren't dealt with yet it seemed. "Yeah, Heath? Feels good too." He said, wincing as he tried to move a little in his cousin's arms. "I'm okay, guys. I'll be okay." He stated, looking at Frankie.

"No you're not ya' idiot. You're bleedin' all over the place. Okay, I'll see if I can find the first aid kit in the plane somewhere – it had to be near the controls." Clawdeen said, emotionally exhausted with this ordeal and climbing back into where Jackson had been.

"Does everyone have to insult me?" Jackson said. "I could've sworn you were too Heath, repeatedly …and was someone kissing me?" he asked in bewilderment. Heath laughed as Frankie began to blush despite the severity of the situation.

"In your dreams lover-boy." Heath said to Jackson, whose eyes had started to droop again. "Ah ah! No sleeping! Or Abbey might freeze your eyes open." He threatened, knowing full well that his girlfriend very well might take him up on the offer even if she was not feeling well.

"We should get to higher ground. Be better to get a rescue plane's attention…and cooler higher up the hill." Abbey said. "Cannot stay with plane if people are tracking us to make us crash." She reasoned with the others. Clawdeen came out of the plane piece and walked over to Frankie to help her tend to Jackson.

"That call from Thad wasn't really a call from Thad. It must have been a signal to set off the booby-traps that were put on the plane…"Clawdeen said. "Oh, this is my fault…I should have just ignored it…"she wailed.

"Hey," Frankie consoled her, "this is none of our faults. If it makes you feel any better, blame me for pushing you to take the call."

"Abbey's right about staying too near the plane though," Jackson interjects, "whoever's after Cleo had to have been tracking our position since we weren't on the right course…but they might not be too hasty in following the black box signal if they assume we all died in the crash. It's likely been disabled anyway to ensure that our bodies weren't found or that we would die from exposure before help ever got to us" He tried to sit up more, Heath keeping him from doing too much.

"Still clever even with the bump to the head." Clawdeen said, wiping away the blood that had made its way into his eye. "At least this is a tiny gash." She said. "Just bleeding a lot."

"Head wounds do that." Jackson said, grimacing as she dabbed the one of the few tiny antiseptic wipes over his head wound, Frankie working on his side.

"Do you think we might be able to get it to start sending out a signal again?" Heath asked.

"I might be able to." Frankie suggested, trying to be gentle in cleaning Jackson's side. It seemed he had been luckier than they thought in that it might only need a few stitches, but could be handled for the moment with the amount of gauze and bandage that was in the small case. It was any internal damage that she thought might be the problem.

"Don't put yourself in more danger for us Frankie." Clawdeen said, clearly thinking about her friend's charge level not being replenished at any predictable time in the future. "The electromagnetic field that covers the triangle will keep me alright for several days. I'm going to help in any way that I can." Frankie said with a determined look in her eyes.

"Okay. Okay." Heath tried to stop any impending squabble over this battle of good intentions. "Jackson, do you know where in the plane it might be?" Jackson looked like recalling that information was harder than it should have been, but responded with, "These things aren't like regular planes. I'm not sure, but it usually is toward the back in these things?….I think….Wherever the "back" of a triangle is."

"Well, if it's not in the cockpit area, then we might as well go check out the other part of the plane we know of to see if it's there…There's a "back" section to that piece, isn't there?" Clawdeen suggested, standing up. Walking over from her spot under one of the remaining upright trees by the plane, Abbey sat next to Jackson. "I stay here. Watch over Jackson." She said, looking tired already.

"Heath, can you come with me and Frankie? We might need a flame-torch to get to this thing." Clawdeen asked, pulling Frankie up and away from Jackson otherwise she might change her mind and suggest she stay here with him.

Heath nodded after Jackson gave him a thumbs up, gently removing him from out of his arms and up against the tree stump that Abbey was sitting on. Casting one more wary look over her shoulder as the three walked back in the direction of the other wreckage, Frankie saw Jackson smile to her. She smiled back and resolved to be as quick as possible in finding and getting this thing working again.

* * *

Abbey and Jackson sat next to each other in silence for a little while until Abbey broke the quiet. "You have terrible luck." She said bluntly. Jackson barked out a harsh laugh, but had to agree with her.

"Yeah…" he said, trying to sit up a little more to avoid sleep. "Care to be specific?"

"First you get sick, then you deal with bomb and now you get hurt again…does everyone in your family have bad luck? Could be a family thing…" she said, fiddling with her necklace.

Jackson laughed again, trying not to make any sudden moves if he could avoid it. He didn't want to be considered an invalid to the others. "Yeah, you could say that. On both sides." He said, unable to keep from fidgeting. "You've seen what Heath is capable of" he said, to which she nodded.

"Is why I asked. There! That should help with crystal. It will fix itself over time." She said. Jackson attempted to twist around more to see what she was talking about but his body let him know that it wasn't up for that yet, and he slumped against the side of the stump, closing his eyes against the pain and nausea…._definitely a concussion_, he thought.

"Whoa! Hey! Be staying still is best thing for you!" Abbey said, doing her best to readjust Jackson. "Hey! Heath say no sleeping, so open eyes."

Jackson nodded and sucked in as deep a breath as he could. Abbey looked at him for a moment. "So stop lying and tell Abbey truth. You are hurt more badly than you tell others." She said, looking at him directly. Even with the discomfort on her face, it was still an intimidating look.

"What… makes you say that?" he stalled between breaths. She just tilted her head a little and answered, "Because that is what I did with Heath too…he's a bit…panic-like" she said. "But I will be honest with you if you be honest with me. I fixed necklace but will be very weak for at least the night, maybe tomorrow."

Jackson decided it would be best to share things with Abbey at least. "Okay…yeah…this gash on my side could get infected pretty easily out here, and it's possible that…"he shifted again, wincing a little during his attempt to find any comfortable position, "my ribs are bruised if not worse. But I don't think anything's broken. It's the concussion that I'm worried about."

Abbey scooted closer, resting one of her naturally chilly hands on his head to help ease the pain. She knew it wouldn't be wise for her to try and make any substantial blocks of ice like she did on the train for him, but this had to be better than nothing to help keep the swelling down.

"Ah…"he sighed, "thanks Abbey. That feels good…" Abbey smiled before a question popped into her head. "How do I check on you when your chest is hurt? Probably best not to again do what Frankie did." She said, grabbing one of Jackson's arms. "Pulse like other kinds of monsters, in wrist? Yes?" she asked. Jackson gave a slight nod, guiding her hand so she could find it. "Then we use that so we don't make injuries worse." She put her hands back on his head and gave a humorless laugh, "Not to worry. Abbey will look out for you."

Jackson was touched by the yeti's care. He was glad he had made a friend in her, thinking that Heath may not have been exaggerating in stating his luck over finally getting her to be with him.

* * *

"That should do it." Heath said, putting out his flame. He had managed to tear open a good portion of the floor in their segment of the plane. "You think that box is here?" he asked of Frankie, who shook her head yes.

"It's still sending out an impulse. I picked up on that." She said. Clawdeen came over to help Heath move pieces around, favoring her hurt arm. The two of them lifted out what fit the description of a 'black box' and carried it up onto the floor of the plane.

"Alright then. We shouldn't need to tamper with it then if it's still workin'" she said, but Frankie shook her head. "We should try to make the signal stronger. Otherwise it could be harder to find us with the way the electromagnetic field shifts things around. Plus, if a storm comes, it could make it seem like we're on the opposite end of the forest…it's been known to make some crazy things happen." She said, examining the box as she talked. _Daughter of a Frankenstein monster_, Clawdeen remembered, _should just let her do her thing_.

"How fast can you do this?" Heath said, anxious about getting back to his girlfriend and cousin. Unfortunately, he succeeded in only getting a growl from Clalwdeen. "Well, should we bring it back to the others?" he said.

"I only need about ten minutes, and then we can head back. But I don't think we should bring it back to the others or our...camp…in case someone other than help shows up first." Frankie said. Clawdeen nodded along with this plan. "That's smart. I should be able to catch on to them if they have the same stink as what's on some of these plane parts. They messed around with just about everything if I can pick up on that scent after everything else that's been kicked up by the crash…phew…" she scrunched up her nose. "It's musty like some of Cleo's things, but with some other, stronger odor too."

"Hopefully the others are still okay too and will have figured out who's been after Cleo so they can come find us." Heath said, pacing again in his agitation and really hoping that their predicament would have been noticed by now.

* * *

As the others were trying to come up with an answer to Clawd's daunting question, Draculaura had an idea. She stood up and walked a few steps away from the table and pulled out her phone. She dialed Thad's number, hoping that he would say that he had been calling Clawdeen.

"Hello?" a masculine voice answered on the other end. "Thad? It's Draculaura. Quick question – have you called Clawdeen lately?" Draculaura turned back to her friends slowly, as they listened in on her side of the conversation. "If you didn't, then someone's been using your number for some reason….no, I don't think it's a harmless prank. I…I'll talk to you later about this…I have to go."

Ghoulia gave out a moan in realization of what had happened. That bug had been used to hack into their phones and used Thad's number for some reason. While explaining to her friends, the hotel manager rushed back in.

"Didn't you all have a tour scheduled on Gremlin Gusts? Did any of your friends get on?" he asked in an urgent tone.

"Why? What happened?!" Cleo demanded, having had enough of this. The man took a moment as he seemed to try to find the best way to inform them of what had happened. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but the hanger reported that a few of their staff had been knocked out and they believe that the plane you were to go on had been tampered with – they can't contact it, but it seems like it might have gone down….they're trying to trace the black box signal but so far nothing. I'm sorry." He said, leaving the room again to give them all time to comprehend that information.

"What? That can't be…"Clawd said, looking to Draculaura for her to agree with him.

"We'll find them. They're smart…they'll be okay." Deuce said, walking back over to his friend and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Especially with how tough your sister is, dude. She'll be yelling at you for taking your time about picking her up."

Ghoulia moaned out that if they could make their way to the hanger before any of the men pursuing them did, she might be able to figure out how to trace the signal the manager was talking about – but that they would have to hurry before that information, and anything else that they could use to stop these men, was wiped.

"Okay…then that's what we will do. Cleo, do you want to stay here and wait for the police?" Draculaura asked her friend. Cleo shook her head no. "I'm coming too. Now that I know who they are and how they've been avoiding my father's detection, I should be able to deal with their tricks…it must be a magical ointment that they've been putting on themselves rather than a potion to be ingested so it would reflect all magic tossed at them, including yours Deuce." She said, beginning to pace as she thought back on the things she had learned from the lessons her father had been giving her over the millennia.

"That's what that smell was." Clawd said. "I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier. I thought it was just some mummy thing…this whole thing could have been avoided…Clawdeen and the others wouldn't…"

"Clawd!" Draculaura said, grabbing onto the sides of his face. "That doesn't matter now. What does is getting Cleo what she needs to fix this and to go find the others. Use that nose of yours to let us know if any of them are nearby, now that you know what to look for."

She had sternly told him all this, achieving a more focused Clawd than before. "But how are we going to make sure that the manager doesn't sound the alarm that we are out and about again?"

"Dude, leave that to me…I think it's time to be more free with these things if we want to move things along quickly." Deuce said, making his way to the door and fingering his glasses. The others followed him, bolting out once they heard the familiar cut-off shout of someone being turned to stone. They felt bad – he was only doing his job and trying to help keep them safe – but they needed their attackers to think they were in one place so they could get to the hanger.

"How are we supposed to get to the airfield unseen? It's broad daylight; we'll be noticed by someone." Cleo asked as they stood in the cover of one of the various buildings on the grounds as they planned their next moves. Clawd pointed over to the courts. "We can take one of those carts. Holt figured out how to get it to go… without actually renting one out…."

"You want us to steal?"Draculaura asked, ashamed at Clawd for his suggestion.

"I'm not surprised that Holt might do that." Cleo said, crossing her arms at the idea. Ghoulia groaned at them, to which Deuce smiled. "Thank you Ghoulia…maybe you can convince them that we're trying to be quick and unnoticed. "

"Fine." Draculaura said. Running over to where the carts were set up, Clawd repeated what he had seen Holt do the other day. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it had been a bit of a rush doing that with the flame-haired Hyde. Soon enough they were on their way and arrived at the hanger in a few short minutes. Getting inside, Ghoulia led the way to what she thought was most likely the records and control room. Once inside, their only potential obstacle was an errant staff member who was taken care of by an apologetic Deuce. "Sorry dude. It'll only last a little while. Just need to look at something." He said, pushing the petrified gremlin into a storage closet.

"Okay Ghoulia. Do your thing." Cleo said, although it was redundant since Ghoulia had been looking through files as soon as they had the door closed.

"Oooh…once we can find that signal, I'm heading straight over to the spa to borrow some of their things and then we can take away these mummies' immunity. Then you can turn them to stone and smash them for all I care." Cleo said, pure rage lacing her threat.

"Yeah, well, whatever we do, we should hurry. There's only about three or four more hours of daylight and we probably have less time to get what we need." Clawd said, trying to overlook Cleo's hostility to get back on track. "You and Deuce want to head over to the spa now? Draculaura and I will stay here with Ghoulia until she's got what she needs."

Ghoulia moaned to them that getting into the records was one thing but then being able to trace what was a faint signal within an electromagnetic cover would be what takes the most time. She turned to Clawd, informing him if they would need to go to the area's observatory towards the edge of the grounds.

"This place has that?"Clawd asked, wondering what reason a resort would possibly have to build something like that. Ghoulia answered that this was not just a resort town, but that there were also some research set-ups here to learn more about the field that made the triangle behave the way it did. _No wonder she and Jackson have been geeking out_, he thought.

"Okay then." Deuce said, but Cleo shook her head. She was reluctant to keep splitting up with what occurred because of it this time. Deuce knew her well enough that she didn't even have to say it aloud for him to understand. Pulling her into a hug he said to her, "I know you don't want to split up, but the sooner we get these things done, the sooner we can all be together again. We can meet up back at this…observatory…once we get what you need from the spa." Cleo sighed and nodded.

"Who takes the cart?" she asked. Clawd responded, "You two – you might need it to carry out whatever it is you're getting. And a quick getaway too." Deuce nodded and led Cleo to the door, peeking out before her to make sure the coast was clear. "Alright then. See you later dudes." He said, and the two of them took off toward the cart.

Ghoulia moaned that it would only be another minute or two for her to be able to remotely access the information stored on these computers from those in the observatory. Draculaura handed her one of the flash-drives she found in a desk drawer, doing her best to contribute to their efforts.

"Surely they must have a rescue team working on finding the others. I mean, they have to be prepared in case something like this happens…" she said, thinking about what the manager had said to them.

"Yeah. But they aren't Ghoulia – she'll be able to trace their signal even if they can't be bothered enough to spend the extra effort." Clawd said, peeking out the door to make sure things were still okay. "They can't send out search parties in random directions if they don't have enough men or any clue as to where they went down either. "

He finished in more of a considering tone, giving the benefit of doubt that these guys at the hanger weren't too busy trying to deal with paperwork issues over who's supposed to go looking for lost tourists. He hoped this would help his girlfriend feel slightly better about the situation. Ghoulia gave out a moan to signal that she was done with gathering what information she could on this end, suggesting that they hurry over to the observatory.

"Okay. Let's get going then." Clawd said, slowly opening the door and the three ran out as quickly as they could, passing by the storage closet where muffled sounds could be heard.

* * *

Cleo and Deuce went back to the spa, where Cleo was noticed almost immediately. _No doubt because of the amount of time she spent here earlier_, thought Deuce. At least they were eager to accommodate her and her somewhat strange request of materials, likely thinking that she was trying out some different techniques. While one of the ladies was helping to gather all of what she requested, Deuce had snuck to the storage area to find some of the things that the spa wasn't so willing to give out to tourists. Doing his best to get them into the cart, he made his way back in to see Cleo put a wad of cash on the counter to pay for her things. He was lucky that not only was she a wealthy princess, she always seemed to carry around a few extra things in all those wrappings.

"Let's get going before they realize that they're missing some other things too." Deuce whispered, smiling as Cleo thanked the ladies helping her. "You don't normally like to pay with cash…no credit cards in those wrappings?" he asked.

"Credit cards can be traced. Cash not so easily. I'd rather not alert these guys that I've figured out who they are and how to take down their defenses. They'd probably have something else to come at us with." She said, looking behind them as Deuce drove away.

"Clever." Deuce complimented his girlfriend.

"I have my moments…" she said, "but it's probably Ghoulia rubbing off on me." Satisfied that they weren't immediately spotted, she turned back to directly talk with her boyfriend. "Do you even know where this observatory is?"

"There are signs all over the trails to point tourists toward the different buildings." He said to her, pointing out one sign as they passed. "I figured Ghoulia probably already knew her way there already so no need to worry about the others not finding it. We'll just follow the trail to the nature hikes building and they can probably point us in the right direction."

"What makes you think they would know?" Cleo asked.

"The guys and I explored the grounds for a little while after Holt got us kicked out of the arcade. He went for a little joyride in one of the carts with Clawd and ended up there. We spent a few minutes there trying to get him to cool down with the thought of an early lunch." He said.

"Oh. But I thought you said Jackson was reading for most of the day? It was how he knew all about the flight tour?" Cleo asked. Deuce nodded. "We started out with Jackson at the courts and he played a few rounds with us before he was reading – dude can play a serious game. But some guy decided he needed some training montage music and we got Holt until after lunch…headphones and water don't mix too well and we weren't allowed by the lifeguard to play loud music because of the other guests with children."

They pulled up next to the nature hikes building and Deuce ran in to get direction. He came out a minute or two later and started the cart up again to continue on the same path. "Good news. The research center is actually at the end of this path. How we're gonna get in with all this stuff is beyond me though."

Cleo thought about it until her phone buzzed. Looking at it, she realized that she didn't know the number. "Deuce?" she asked warily, extending the phone toward him so he could see what had spooked her. "Answer it anyway. It could be the others trying to use an unrecognized number to keep these guys from cluing in to what's going on."

She answered and immediately let out a relieved sigh, nodding to Deuce that he was right. "Okay. We'll wait on the grounds by the observatory building…big round one right? Okay. I'll be making the stuff…see you then." She said, ending the call.

"We tried to be brief so they couldn't listen in on the call. They've managed to get in under the disguise of potential interns, and Clawd and Draculaura will be finding a spot to wait and hide until the place is closed. They don't usually stay open later than 5 during this week because of the increase in tourists, she said, so we won't have to wait long before one of them lets us in."

They arrived and hid the cart in the cover of the woods, with Cleo beginning to work on her potion. Deuce felt kind of useless at that point, but resigned himself to keeping watch. "What time do you think the sun will set?" he asked after the silence had been dragging on.

Cleo appeared not to hear him as she recited ancient incantations over some of the incense she had bought. It wasn't the kind she would have used, but he could tell she was focused on making the substitutes work. He waited for her to finish, watching as the smoke glowed a purplish color and she brought together some of the petals she had taken from the bath supplies available and put them into a little bowl with the burning incense. It was times like these that he realized just how powerful her magic could be, feeling a little awed by her abilities.

She finished with that section of whatever she was doing to notice him looking at her. "Did you say something?" she asked as she waited for things to start working.

"I asked if you knew what time sunset is. The plane ride took off an hour later than the two o'clock appointment. It's four forty now…"he said, checking the time on his phone. "If Ghoulia can't use their equipment with what she got from the airfield computers until at least after five assuming all goes well, we could take another couple of hours before we even have a start on finding the guys. They'll be in the dark by then…right?"

Cleo thought about it and was dismayed to realize that he was right and time was not on their side. It would be nearly impossible to find them in the dark even for a trained rescue team. They might have an idea of where the signal was coming from, but it was usually at night that the triangle's famous occurrences were more active, and that could make things difficult in going after them. They might not be able to spot them until the sun came up again.

"We can only do our best." She said, going back to her making her concoction. "I suppose that's all we can do."

It was another forty minutes before Deuce spotted Clawd opening up a back door. Cleo had since finished with her work and had what looked like four muddied air freshener containers in her hands. The plan was to spray the mist onto their attackers if they brushed paths with them again. The mud they had taken once dried over the incense and mixed with various other ingredients, Cleo had theorized, should come out just like the air freshener that she had dumped out. Their defenses would be down so Deuce could do his thing…and they would smell lovely too.

Cleo and Deuce followed Clawd as he led the way back to the others, climbing up the stairs to the top floor of the observatory. Ghoulia was already working and Draculaura ran over to them as soon as she spotted them. She was about to pull Cleo into a crushing hug when she saw that she was carrying something.

"Is that it? Why is everything so messy?" she said, scrunching up her face at the mess that Cleo's hands and lower arms were covered in, with a small smudge on her face too that Deuce found he couldn't bring himself to tell her about.

"I had to work with inferior goods and inadequate conditions…this is what you get." She said, lifting her head up in her typical fashion. She seemed to briefly revert back to herself in that moment, causing Draculaura to laugh a little.

"And you are a mess. Come with me. I know the way to the restroom." She said, motioning with her hand for Cleo to follow.

As the two walked away, Deuce asked Clawd how things were going. "Ghoulia says this could take a while. There are lots of systems or programs…or whatever she's running to try and find the signal. That, and the triangle's known for screwing around with scientific equipment – something about being a combination of science and good old fashioned magic." He said, reiterating what she had told him earlier.

"Dude, you think it'll affect the others if they're out there too long? If they're out there overnight?" he asked, although it was less directed to Clawd than just a general musing on what their friends might be facing.

"Ghoulia thought about that too," Clawd sighed, playing a little with the can Cleo had left behind when she and Draculaura had left. "Monsters usually fare better than normies in terms of the amount of weird things they could get themselves into, but it will still affect their moods. They could feel like they're having the time of their lives…and walk off a cliff if they're not careful. Who knows? They could do the opposite too and get really angry at each other and split up…" he trailed off, not needing to say anything more on how they hoped that wasn't the case. It would make their goal of finding them all the more difficult. Tossing the can up in the air a few times before Deuce caught it and kept it out of his reach, he continued, "The storms that do that to monsters aren't supposed to last really long, but it would take something big to mentally shock them out of that state."

The girls returned, Cleo all cleaned up, including that spot on her face that Deuce had found cute. She explained to the others what she had discussed with Deuce while waiting about how her concoction worked. Now all they could do was let Ghoulia continue to plug things into the computer and to wait for things to work out.

* * *

Waiting was getting boring for Abbey and Jackson, who had decided against Abbey's suggestion to remain seated and still. He had managed to get himself upright with only a few wobbles from the disorientation his head injury had caused. As much as he wanted to do nothing else but stay seated and nod off, he knew that with as severe a concussion as he probably had, that would not be the best idea. They also had no medicine other than a couple of aspirin that were left in the emergency kit. He had taken those already, but he would probably need something else to make any real progress. So he had decided to try standing up and shuffling around a little to keep himself from falling asleep. He hoped the others would get here soon and they could try making their way up the hill to find a place to call shelter for the night.

"Will you listen to me at all?" Abbey said from her seat on the stump. She was trying to pull off a stern façade, but he knew she was still incredibly woozy. "You are going to do more damage." She sighed.

"My legs are working fine." He countered, taking a few slow steps back over to her. She folded her arms and sighed again. "But your head is not. Honestly, you are as bad as Heath." She said.

As if on cue, Heath and the others walked back into their little area. "Somebody talking about me?" he asked. "Hey! You're upright!" he said to Jackson.

Frankie rushed over to him. "What are you doing?! You're supposed to be resting!" she all but screamed at him, making him wince at the volume of her voice.

"That is what I say, but nobody listens to Abbey." Abbey said, looking away from them. Clawdeen laughed at her comment, pausing to sniff the air a little. Heath walked over to where Abbey was sitting. "Hey I always listen to you." She scooted closer to him and gave him a look. "Okay, maybe there's a few times when I happen to miss something…" he said sheepishly.

"You hear what I say but don't always listen…you nod your head and then go do something stupid anyway. Just like your cousin was doing." She said in a teasing manner.

"Heath do something stupid? No…." Clawdeen remarked sarcastically, walking past where Frankie was berating Jackson for walking around while simultaneously trying to make sure he was okay. "I think we should go that way." She said, pointing to the side of the hill.

"Why? I thought we wanted to go up the hill for Abbey?" Frankie asked. Clawdeen turned around to answer her, "We do. But I smell that foul-smelling mineral water that they tried to tell us was better for us at the spa. There must be a spring of that nearby and we'll need water, right? We can just follow it for a little while and maybe we can trace it back up the hill and make camp there." She suggested.

It seemed as good a plan as any and they started walking in the direction Clawdeen had set for them, her taking the lead. Sure enough, they found a narrow spring of that water and saw that it indeed did come from higher up the hill. However, finding the best path that all of them could climb proved to be a little more time consuming with Abbey and Jackson needing to go a good deal slower. Even Clawdeen realized that she needed to be more careful because of her arm. Once they made it though, they spotted a tiny opening in a rocky area of this side of the hill where the ground had level out enough for them to make a decent enough camp.

"We could use that if it starts to rain." Suggested Frankie, pointing out the small cave.

"Yeah but it's still early spring." Jackson said, leaning on Frankie for support. Clawdeen could tell what he was getting at, animal scaritage after all. Before Heath could ask she commented, "There could still be a bear or somethin' in there still groggy from his nap."

The others widened their eyes and immediately hushed their speech. "Do you think you could look?" Abbey asked Heath. "You could scare it off with your flame if there is bear still in there." She said. Heath looked as though he would really rather do anything but that. Sure, he played up his role as the strong guy to lead and save the day, but he doubted he could take on a bear if it turned out that he had poked a sleeping one.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Frankie said, Jackson nodding in agreement only to wince at the action. Sighing, Heath realized that he needed to do something to find a safe spot for Abbey and Jackson to rest while they waiting for help.

"Okay. Okay. I'll look" he said, swallowing thickly at the idea. "But be ready to run…you so owe me for this guys." He slowly inched his way over, and looked into the cave. It was all dark, but he couldn't see too much just from the entrance. Squeezing in, he was relieved to find it completely empty save for the moss that covered some of the stones. He decided to get in a little laugh at the others' expense, igniting his flame up to cover the cave in light. He heard his name being shouted and poked his head out of the cave.

"Yeees?…." He said, chuckling at the look on their faces. "Just warming things up for you. It's cozy in there."

"Heath!" the girls whined. "We thought you were in real trouble!" Clawdeen shouted out to him.

"See. Something stupid. Don't be doing anything like that again. We in enough trouble as it is." Abbey scolded him, but hugged him nonetheless. Out of all of them, it was Jackson who was the one to laugh.

"You and your spontaneous combustion…." He said, chuckling. Frankie looked at him worryingly. It wasn't uncommon for the two cousins to play around with each other, but in this situation, she would have expected him to have yelled at Heath too. As it was, he was still giggling, putting a hand on his injured side as he did.

"Okay. Now I know that's a serious head injury. It wasn't that funny." Heath said with his arm still around Abbey. "And I do not spontaneously combust…not anymore…"he muttered.

"Yes…you…do.." Jackson gasped out as he stopped laughing. "You used to make this face like you were in pain…or constipated…and then just burst into flames when we were younger. At least… you don't… make that face anymore. It'd be awkward for everybody, especially you Abbey." He said, starting to laugh again. "I don't know why that's so funny right now…and I should really stop laughing." He said, sagging more into Frankie. Clawdeen reached over with her right arm to help lift him back up.

"Okay. No more walking for you." Frankie said, sitting him down, fighting the urge to laugh at Heath's reaction to Jackson's storytelling about him. Abbey was also laughing, consoling Heath by saying how cute she thought that was.

"How about you and I go get some twigs or branches to make a campfire." Clawdeen suggested to Frankie. Frankie didn't want to leave Jackson again so soon, but agreed since it would be dark in a few hours and Heath couldn't keep his flame going all night for them.

"Can you take care of both of them?" Frankie asked Heath, who nodded. With that, the two girls went off to gather some firewood. "Are you going to be okay carrying things?" Frankie asked Clawdeen. Clawdeen nodded, saying, "It's not that bad. Plus, I got two arms – my right arm works just fine. I can carry enough back for a fire, but we'll probably be doing this a few more times tonight anyway. Heath and I can take turns, if we can pull him away from Abbey."

"Hey. His girlfriend is sick and his cousin is really badly hurt. It's understandable he doesn't want to get too far away from either of them." Frankie defended him, filling her arms with a small branch that was on the forest floor. Clawdeen had to agree with her on that. "Do you think we'll be out here too long?" she asked Frankie. "What do you mean? We got the black box working in top shape again with a few good sparks, so help will be on the way in a few hours probably" Frankie answered.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Clawdeen said. "Abbey is going to get sicker if that necklace doesn't start to repair itself like she says….and I don't know how Jackson's going to be if we stay out for more than a day."

Frankie stopped what she was doing as her friend forced her to confront the severity of their situation. She looked to Clawdeen with watering eyes. "Aw ghoul, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh." She said, dropping what little twigs she had been carrying to pull Frankie into a hug. Frankie dropped her load of wood and clung to her friend, a few tears finding their way out of her eyes. "I don't know what else to do help them. And Jackson needs…I don't know what he needs. I may be the daughter of a scientist, but I don't have any idea what else to do."

"Hey, hey…you fixed the black box so help is coming, just like you said. And you got Jackson to wake up and start breathing on his own again…you've wrapped him up good with those bandages that would put Cleo to shame. You've got those mad scientist skills too, so I have faith in you. Have a little faith in yourself." She said, pulling away. "Now help me get these twigs back so we can build a fire…or Heath can."

Frankie dried her eyes and nodded, picking up her bundle and following Clawdeen back. They dropped their bundles on the ground once back with the others, and set them up to create a fire. They took a few more trips back into the forest to gather up enough to last them the night.

"That should be good." Clawdeen said, rubbing her injured arm that had been protesting against the extra trips. "But I'm not so sure what we're gonna do about food though. You got any idea what's edible out here you two?" she asked of Heath and Jackson.

Heath shook his head. "I can tell you what you _can't_ eat. My uncle was more concerned with keeping me from putting things in my mouth than drilling into me what I could make a meal out of."

Jackson looked like he was thinking hard about this, until he widened his eyes and let out an "Oh!" and began to twist around and grab at his legs in uncoordinated movements.

"What is it?!" Frankie asked at his behavior, fearing something else was wrong. But then she realized he was grabbing at his pockets, trying to get the buttons undone without bending too much because of his chest.

"I've got bars from the vending machine still in my pocket. I buttoned them so they should still be there, but I can't get them open." He said, alleviating everyone's concerns over his outburst. "They should still be okay if a little crushed. But food's food, right?"

Heath went over to his cousin, helping him get the crushed bars out of his pockets. There were a total of eight bars in his cargo shorts pockets. "How many of these did you stuff in here? How did you get them all in?" Heath asked incredulously. Jackson smiled and just answered, "cargo shorts". Happy to have at least something to get them through the evening, the others laughed at their interaction and began to dig into the bars, thankful that Jackson really liked granola enough to buy them all while they were waiting earlier. One of them had used their boredom to actually do something productive.

Eventually it got dark out, and Heath lit up the fire. Things seemed to be going well enough that they could all convince themselves that they were really just camping if they didn't focus on how Abbey kept clinging onto Heath every now and then when she was feeling worse, or how roughed up Jackson looked. As they were refueling the fire, Clawdeen called to everyone's attention to the way the sky was brimming with some nasty looking, strange clouds. They could all feel a change in the air, even though it didn't seem like it was going to start pouring out.

"Maybe we should get into cave." Abbey suggested. Frankie looked up at the sky again and answered, "I'm not so sure that would make such a difference. This might be one of those triangle storms."

Abbey seemed to growl her response back to Frankie, getting up from Heath's side to walk over to her. "Why you never listen to me? You think I am too stupid? You have always been like that, ever since first day I met you when you thought I would waste snowball on you."

"What?!" Frankie shouted. "How _dare_ you! I'm the only one who was willing to give you a chance as the new ghoul! You're the one who doesn't listen to us because you're just too stubborn and prideful!"

Clawdeen tried to stop the fight from escalating, but could feel herself get drawn in by the triangle's affect. "Stop your bickering. You two are so preoccupied with all your drama you don't have any idea what's really going on…grrrr…you're getting on my nerves with all this…"

"_My_ drama?!" Abbey said, redirecting her unnatural, planted anger towards Clawdeen. "You are always going on and on about how boyfriend finding is so hard and we don't understand…"

"You were too afraid to call back Thad and just talk to him after what…a couple of dates, if that? You just are _jealous_ because we're trying to be happy!" Frankie argued. Heath and Jackson were beginning to get agitated too as they were watching their friends fight among each other.

"I'm afraid?! _I'm_ afraid?!" Clawdeen said, widening her eyes at Frankie and shifting her stance to a more aggressive one. "I'm not the one who's drawing things out with a certain boy for no reason. You can't even tell him what's plain as day to everyone else! Did you even tell him that you and Holt kissed, or do you like to do that sort of thing? It must mean nothing to you, you little…"

"Girls what do you think you're doing? This isn't the time for you to stand around _gossiping_ like you do." He said, pulling apart Clawdeen and Frankie while standing beside Abbey.

"You think all we do is gossip? What, you think we spend all our time thinking about, oh for example, you?" Clawdeen sneered at him

"Now you think you're in charge? You can't take anything seriously. I hated how many times you call me baby…if anyone is baby, it's you" Abbey said, digging in deep with her insult to her boyfriend. She realized what she was saying, but it was like she couldn't care and something had taken over, making her want to just cause more and more anguish.

"Excuse me?" Heath said, starting to flame up. "I'm the one who's made sure none of you decided to go all miss independent and do something stupid just to prove you could do it all on your own. I'm thinking it might be better if that's just what you did. See if I go after you in the dark!" he shouted.

Jackson had also gotten to his feet by this point to shuffle over to the others. He recognized this feeling as something that sometimes happened whenever Holt was triggered. He had earlier thought that since there was no music, and their phones had been drained by the electromagnetic field, he could keep from letting Holt out. Now, he wasn't so sure, not knowing how to handle this obvious reaction to the field.

"Everyone needs to keep it together." He said, doing his best to keep that feeling abated for as long as he could, knowing that eventually he too would get pulled in. _It seems our communication efforts are pulling off_, Jackson thought about Holt, since it was likely his alter ego's disposition that was keeping him saner than the others.

"That's rich from someone who can't keep himself together." Clawdeen threw at Jackson, jabbing a finger in his shoulder. "I'm not surprised you're just lying around _normie_, while we do all the work here. Sorry, while _I_ do all the work, with finding water and…."

"What? I DISARMED A BOMB…AND FLEW A PLANE! Neither of those were on my to-do list for a vacation. _And_ I fed you all. If anything, I'm the reason you're still around to shout out how the world has wronged you!" Jackson shouted back, feeling himself drawn in.

"Hah. You were just able to do all these things because you're the '_brilliant son of Dr. Jekyll_'? You're nothing but a waste of time on my part. I _hated_ every time that I had to be dragged off to spend a family outing with you. You can't understand me or any monster." Heath said.

"And for the record, that bomb still went off and you crashed a plane – not flew a plane – crashed. If you were able to do anything worthwhile, you'd have done it right, _genius_." He continued, turning his misplaced rage all on his cousin.

"Like you'd have done it any better hot-head." Frankie said, sparking at her bolts as she seethed over what Clawdeen had said earlier about her and Jackson. In this pocket of whatever the field was producing, she could feel the irrational anger in her veer toward Jackson for his not saying anything about it.

"But I would like to know why you never did anything to let me in on how you were doing. Yes, I like you and _considered_ getting back with you, but you've never managed to take the lead in anything for me…how was I supposed to know you thought you were ready to try us again?" she argued with him.

"So you just kissed Holt as what, some sort of experiment? Or to get back at both of us at the same time? Are you giving him the run-around too?" Jackson turned to her. She fired back at him, "At least he does something", walking away from him only to be pulled into a further argument between Clawdeen and Abbey.

Jackson took a shaky step to follow her, but Heath pushed him back towards the rock wall of the hill. "See, you're hardly worth the effort."

"So you keep saying, but I'm not the one who causes destruction everywhere he goes. How many disasters have you caused because you can't control that flame of yours? The only time it has ever '_saved the day_' was when you stopped a _terrifying _cookie dough monster…way to go '_master of the flame_'! And, you could have tried to extend that limited brain power to try and understand me before my fire abilities started show through and I suddenly became worth your _precious_ time." Jackson pushed his cousin back with all the strength he could muster with his injuries. Already he was out of breath, and a thought passed in the back of his mind that he needed to rest before he made them worse, his ribs aching and his head feeling pounds heavier than it should have.

"At least it made you interesting. So you're smart, big deal. We can do things on our own. I am more than capable – I am so much stronger than you….even Frankie knows it's not worth her time. Your parents left you behind to do more important things…"he shouted louder and louder at his cousin, accentuating each jibe with a push that Jackson tried to reciprocate but was only able to just block.

"Heath! Stop!" Jackson yelled, trying to get through to his cousin in a moment of clarity. He realized that the storm must be waning. "This is not how you are…"

"You wouldn't know, _normie_. You know nothing! So here's something for you to learn. You…are not…needed!" he shouted, giving a much more violent shove on the last word, putting all his monstrous strength into it and tossing Jackson into the side of hill with enough force and fire into his last shove to knock the breath out of him as he crumpled to the ground. Gasping to try and breathe with his ribs the way they were and having had his head knocked back again, his plight must have been enough to snap Heath and the girls who had seen the whole thing back to reality.

Heath just stared at him, arms outstretched from blasting his cousin. Opening and closing his mouth, he looked as though paralyzed, unable to comprehend what he had just done. Frankie, however, sprinted over to Jackson's side with a screaming his name.

"Jackson! Jackson. C'mon Jackson. Just take a deep breath. C'mon, open your eyes and look at me, we can do it together." She pleaded with him, roughly pulling him up against her to awkwardly cradle him. Eventually he was able to in a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed as his head pounded.

"Oh man…oh man…oh man." Heath repeated, pulling at his hair. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I swear, I didn't mean it." He said, both to himself and the others and looking to Abbey. The amount of energy they had all put into their unintentional argument had left her feeling faint. Once again Heath was torn between rushing to her side or to Jackson's aid. But he saw that Clawdeen had been helping Abbey, allowing him to go to Jackson. He made his way cautiously over to his cousin.

"Don't touch him." Frankie said to him, tightening her grip on Jackson.

"I didn't mean it. Any of it." Heath begged with her, wanting to do something to help his cousin. Jackson stirred and looked up at Frankie. "He's right. We all said some…nasty things. It was the triangle…twisting things around…" he said, trying to get in another deep breath at the end of his short sentence.

"I'm sorry." Heath and Frankie both said to Jackson, turning to look at each other. Frankie was openly crying at this point, as were Clawdeen and Abbey. Even Heath had watery eyes, and was doing his best not to cry in front of his cousin.

Jackson opened his mouth to tell Frankie that he was beginning to lose feeling in his left arm because of the way she was holding him to her, when an involuntary groan left his mouth. He looked down and saw how his t-shirt and bandages were rapidly becoming redder. "That's not good." He said, feeling a little numb at the idea of having opened up his wound.

"Oh no!" Frankie said. Heath took his shirt off, handing it to Frankie. "Can you rip this up, make more bandages?" he asked, Frankie nodding. Lying Jackson down, she began to do just that, Jackson hissing in pain every now and then as she touched him.

"Let's get him some water." Clawdeen said, pulling Heath away. "With what?" he asked her, since they were lacking in any bottles or something else to carry water the short distance from their camp and the stream. "What about moss?" Abbey asked from her spot.

"That'll work. We'll be right back. We can get you some too" Heath said, kneeling down to get to eye level with her. She smiled at him and gave him a kiss, expressing her wish to be forgiven for saying all those things to him and letting him know that she forgave him too. He returned the kiss, wanting to deepen it further, but Clawdeen's cough drew him back to the urgency of the moment. The two of them then went into the cave and ripped the moss they could off the rocks before taking off to the spring.

Abbey slowly made her way over to her friends. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"Just stay close by." Frankie said, blinking a few times before changing her mind. "Actually, can you rip Heath's shirt for me while I try to get his shirt and these bandages off." She said, handing the shirt to Abbey. The yeti took it and did as Frankie asked.

"Thanks Frankie." Jackson said, continuing to take gasping breaths as they tried to treat the gash in his side. "Yeah, well, I have some experience with putting things back together." She said.

"In more ways than one." He said to her, turning to look directly at her. "You were right though. I haven't made it easy for you either…I just…didn't know…if you still considered there…being an 'us'."

Frankie sighed, getting frustrated with the frequency of her eyes watering up since they crashed. "I know. I'm sorry. I made things more complicated than they needed to be…I should have told you about kissing Holt."

"And show you two were putting on at pool" Abbey interjected as she handed back the shirt that had been stripped into long, thin pieces. Frankie took them, giving Abbey a look that asked her to stop helping in this part of the conversation, but it seemed to go over Abbey's head.

"I'm not surprised you kissed him first. Everyone seems to agree that he's more fun to be around and…" Jackson was cut off as Frankie shook her head. "He's also obnoxious and irresponsible. I kissed Holt…but I wanted you to kiss me." She said, biting her bottom lip as she realized how cliché that sounded even to her.

Jackson just looked at her with a goofy grin on his face. "I'd love nothing more than…to kiss you…right now." He said, a blush managing to make its way to his face despite how much blood he had already lost. "But it's not exactly…the most romantic moment… although… it is a beautiful, starry sky we're under." He finished with his usual humor and small smile, getting her to give out a shaky laugh.

"Here they come." Abbey said, drawing their attention back to treating Jackson's injury. Once Frankie had wrapped his wound as best she could with what she had left, she went back to cradling Jackson the way she had before. Jackson thought about letting her know that not only could he not really move his right arm without smacking her in an inappropriate spot, he was going to lose feeling in his left arm pretty soon. But he decided against it, considering their recent conversation and content to let her want to hold onto him.

"You said something about fire powers earlier too, I think." She said. Jackson nodded, feeling himself start to fall asleep. "Yeah… 'bout a week ago… with the cold and nosebleed…Heath's…been helping me…get it…under control." He breathed out, smiling at his cousin.

"Why don't you show her your skills, 'cuz" Heath said, trying desperately to do something to clear the air between them.

Jackson sighed and tried to call a flame to his left hand, but found he couldn't. He wasn't sure if it was because he was too tired or was already feeling pins and needles in his arm that he couldn't do it. He tried to focus on the advice Heath had given him back at the cabin, thinking it seemed so long ago now.

"Can't" was all he could say. Frankie nodded, appearing saddened at this admission. "It's okay. I understand if you don't want to, or don't trust me after everything that's happened, but I'll be willing to wait if you want to later, y'know, if you still…."she rambled on, causing Jackson to smile at her.

"No, Frankie…I mean…I physically can't…I can't focus on the warmth…the elemental core…to draw out a flame….not even when I think of you." He breathed out, trying to move a little bit in her arms to get feeling back in his arm. By now he was sure he had lost circulation in it since it felt numb. His action caused him to feel a little nauseous as his concussion made itself known to him again. He blinked his eyes rapidly and sucked in short, rapid breaths as he waited for it to pass.

"What do you mean?" Heath asked, panic starting to show on his face. From what he knew, any elemental that said that didn't fare too well shortly after. He hoped that wasn't the case, thinking that Jackson's mixed heritage might help him out.

Jackson looked up at Frankie, who had pulled her face closer to his. Thinking about it only briefly, he jerked himself upwards to catch her in a brief kiss. Pulling apart, he shivered.

"What's wrong Jackson?!" Heath asked again. Jackson let himself sag back into Frankie's arms, feeling immensely tired. "I'm so tired…and…cold. But kissing you…made me…warmer." He smiled, giving in and closing his eyes, letting his head loll to the side.

"Jackson?!" Frankie yelled, shaking him a little. "Jackson?!" she repeated. Jackson could hear them all shouting at him, but the pull of sleep was so inviting and he felt like he was both too heavy and yet floating. He felt distantly someone grab at his left arm, but couldn't figure out what was going on – it was numb and his mind might as well have been the same way.

"Frankie…I… I can't find pulse. He's…gone." Abbey said, sounding as though she was choking on the words as she was saying them.

"No...no, no, no, no." Heath stammered out, a mess. "He can't be…I couldn't have done this. No…no!"

Frankie held onto Jackson, taking Abbey at her word and giving in to premature grief. She rocked back and forth as she cradled him, repeating his name over and over again as she cried, not noticing when Clawdeen had come up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. They were all in a state of shock.

Jackson tried to open his too-heavy eyelids to stop his friends from panicking as they were. Distantly he thought of an old magic trick he had learned, connecting something to do with a ball and why there wasn't a pulse, but he couldn't seem to process any complete thought other than wanting to be able to say something – as much as he was touched by his friends' concern, he didn't want them to get upset.

"No!" shouted Heath again, roughly pushing Frankie out of the way and snatching Jackson up in his embrace, back-to-chest. "If he was cold…then I'll just…reignite his core. C'mon Jackson!" he yelled. Jackson felt himself being maneuvered around again, and then suddenly felt an incredible warmth go through him, comforting his sore body. It got warmer and warmer and he could feel himself reacting to the unnatural, supernatural heat in a way that Holt had described just once in a diary entry to him as healing. He had wished at the time that it extended to him whenever Holt did something that left him feeling the after-effects the next day.

"C'mon Jackson! Wake up!" Heath shouted, deciding to resort to one last drastic measure. He placed his hands directly on Jackson's chest as he tried his version of shocking Jackson like Frankie had done. The girls looked on in a mixture of hope and panic, especially Frankie who had to be held back by Clawdeen to keep from getting too close to Heath.

The flames and wave of heat died down enough for them to uncover their eyes, Abbey swaying a little before her necklace's power started to slowly bring her back to a more comfortable condition. Heath sat there with Jackson in his arms, looking defeated. "Jackson, please…."

Jackson had felt nearly overwhelmed by whatever Heath had done. But it seemed to have helped, as he didn't feel quite so heavy and numb. He experimented and took in a shuddering breath after holding it in once the intense warmth had been directed into him by his cousin. "Heath?" he asked, slowly opening his eyes with effort. He felt better, but still had a long way to go towards perfect health.

Heath's head snapped back up, hope clear in his eyes. "Jackson! Hah…it worked. It worked!" He laughed hysterically, hugging his cousin. The girls also broke into relieved laughter. "What was that?" Jackson asked, his voice cracking a little.

"That was me, being awesome…oh man….you are never allowed to do that again." Heath said, giving a whoop before hugging his cousin again, not caring if the girls called him a softie later on. "You're not leaving me to explain things back home, especially to your dad…"

Jackson nodded, still in a fog from his concussion but not catatonic like a few moments earlier. Before he could ask or say anything else, Frankie had launched herself into him and Heath.

"Oh my ghoul! OH MY GHOUL! Jackson, I'm so glad you're okay" she said, hugging him as best she could, even though it was awkward with Heath still latching on to him too. Clawdeen and Abbey weren't too far behind her though, and he found himself being smothered.

"Guys…Guys…he can't breathe like that!" Heath said, causing the girls to jump apart.

"That was as bad as that time we thought we had lost you Frankie." Clawdeen said, trying to get into a comfortable spot close by on the ground. "I need less dramatic episodes, please?" she said, earning smiles from Frankie and Abbey as Heath was focused on readjusting Jackson into Frankie's grip. "We are exciting bunch." Abbey said, making to stand up. Realizing she had done so too fast too late, her knees started to buckle. Heath was up and catching her just in time, sitting her alongside him. She rested her head on Heath's shoulder. "Whoa. Heat too much for damaged necklace." She said.

"I thought you said you fixed it." Clawdeen said in concern. She hadn't been kidding when she said she didn't need another dramatic moment. "I did, but it is like busted phones – low battery and no signal. I will be fine, just need…"she yawned, "sleep. Like Jackson when he was sick." She snuggled closer to Heath to give him a hug.

"If Jackson needs Heath to keep him going through the night, then you should get in the cave to keep cool. I'll go with you." Clawdeen said. "Heath can take turns going in and out, right?" she asked, facing Heath.

"Yeah," he said, "so much for sleep for me tonight. But don't worry, I'll keep you all safe!" he safe, pointing into the air in a dramatic move to resemble a comic book hero.

"Ugh! What did I say about the drama?" Clawdeen kidded, helping Abbey up and walking into the cave with her. Heath turned to Frankie to see her hugging Jackson tightly, whispering to him. "I'm gonna head in with them for a while. Shout when you need me to save the day, okay? You gonna be alright out here with him Frankie?" he asked. She nodded and he got up and walked into the cave.

"I'll be okay now Frankie, _really_. Just don't let me fall asleep." Jackson said.

"You need to stop saying that to me, _really_. And no way am I letting you close your eyes again anytime soon…." She said, getting upset. "I thought you were gone and I was never gonna be able to talk with you, or spend time with you or Holt, or go to the movies with you or play music with Holt, or have another picnic with you with mac'-n'-cheese or go to a barbeque, or get to party or a movie or explore a museum or mad science fair, or…." She rambled on.

"Frankie, FRANKIE!" Jackson interrupted her, concerned over how she was giving in to her emotions and sobbing. Calming down a little, she sniffled a few times before he spoke again. "Don't let me sleep, and we can come up with all sorts of things to do together on a date." He smiled.

She laughed, "There has to be an easier way for you to ask me on a date….or kiss me. That was a rotten thing to do, but romantic too." She said. Jackson laughed and looked up at her, "Should we try again?"

* * *

Ghoulia let out a triumphant moan, as she locked onto two possible signals that could be their friends. By now it was almost midnight, as the signals kept getting reversed and duplicated because of the triangle's field. That, and the night maintenance had come through and they had to hide from the dancing creature. While Draculaura had to cover her mouth to stop her giggles at the janitor's dance rehearsal, it had been more than a little frustrating to just have to sit there while he had decided to take a break in the observatory. Fortunately, the computer program remained running during this time. Once the janitor had left, it was a process of elimination game that Ghoulia had to play several times as the computers tried to supply her deleted information with newer versions of the mirrored information.

"Now what do we do?" Clawd asked. They had two possible spots, but no way of getting to either; they also looked to be at the farthest possible point from the observatory's position.

"Now we try to get back to the main lobby and get the right people to head out there." Cleo said. "There has to be a rescue team set up to deal with monsters who get lost in the triangle. We just have to get the information to them quickly."

"Do you think the dudes at the airfield hanger might have done something by now?" Deuce asked, wondering if just heading back to them would be the best idea. If they had already organized, then it should be a quick transition from randomly searching the forests of the triangle to checking on two possible locations.

"Maybe…"Draculaura said, smoothing out her rumpled skirt, "but it didn't look like they were rushing around there earlier. Hopefully all the bureaucratic stuff has been dealt with though and we can head out tonight."

Ghoulia moaned that travelling at night, even for a vampire, would be risky and not a good idea until at least sunrise. Her statement left everyone in a depressed state, but it was better than having nothing to go on. Plus, Ghoulia added, they would need to try contacting Cleo's father to let him know that they knew who was attacking them and how to get back at them. This made them all think about their parents, who no doubt were getting concerned after not having their children check in with them since last night. They were about to head back out to the cart to drive over to the main building when they heard a commotion in the hallway heading their way. They all dove for the concoctions that Cleo had made, looking for placing to hide. Clawd and Deuce stood on either side of the doorway, hoping to get as many of their attackers with the spray as soon as they walked in.

"How could they have found us already?" Cleo asked of Ghoulia, who moaned that they probably figured that they were looking for their friends once they had realized that they were no longer in the main hotel. They probably had kept the hanger so tied up to keep any rescue parties from going out, and to watch to see if they had shown up. "They don't quit do they? What could they possible want to do this for?" Cleo whined.

Draculaura shushed her as the door burst open and the boys began to spray and fight off their attackers. Six men had tried to come through the door, one of which had knocked Deuce's can away as he struggled to pull his glasses on and off without hitting Clawd or anything else. He had turned the first man to stone, but the others had swung at him before he was ready for it. Clawd tried to come to his aid as it was two against one, but was hit on the back of his head by a third mummy and fell to the ground

"Clawd!" Draculaura shouted, rushing out of her spot to continue spraying at the men, hoping what Cleo said about its paralyzing effect was fast-acting. Using up what she had, she continued to evade the swings sent her way, latching on to the attacker's back who had knocked Clawd to the ground and had continued to attack him. "That's my boyfriend…and I'm a Dracula!" she shouted, sinking her fangs into the mummy's back despite her revulsion. Her victim started to go limp and walked backwards in an attempt to smash her against the wall, before she twisted and managed to shove him into the wall.

The other two men had lunged forward to get at Cleo, who screamed at them. Ghoulia covered her friend from any further advances, spraying them with what was left in her container. Deuce had heard Cleo scream and ducked down to push his two attackers into each other, running over to slam into the mummy closest to Cleo. Ghoulia was holding her own, and their attackers' movements were getting slower, but it seemed Cleo's estimation of how fast her concoction worked had been too optimistic.

"Deuce, turn them to stone already!" Draculaura shouted, shaking Clawd awake as she saw through the doorway more men coming around the corner at the end of the hallway. For his part, Deuce had turned half of them to stone so that they were now only dealing with three highly trained assassins, but he had also turned some of the equipment into stone too. Ghoulia ended up getting tossed to the side and Cleo was left open to attack with no defense of her own. Cleo looked around desperately for anything to use as a weapon, walking backward and away from the mummy that had been advancing toward her. She screamed again as he lunged at her, diving out of the way. He turned to her again, flinching when Cleo began tossing whatever items and papers were on the desk at him, getting in a good hit with a clipboard she broke over the mummy's face. The attacker stumbled but grabbed onto her hand, causing her to scream out again at his rough grip. She kicked at him repeatedly until his grip loosened enough for her to pull away, falling to the ground. Her attacker made to grab her again and all she could see was him staring down at her until suddenly he was a statue. Deuce came running over to her, helping her up off the floor.

"Thanks Deuce…that was too close." She said, looking around to see all the Assyrian mummies turned to stone. Ghoulia was limping more than usual, but back to work at the computer to make sure that the information she had pulled up wasn't lost in the scuffle as things were banged around. Draculaura called out to them, holding up the door with Clawd's help. Deuce ran over, "If you let go and get out of the way, I might be able to turn the door to stone long enough for us to get outta here…y'know…like I did with the train" he said, turning to Cleo and Ghoulia.

"I don't know if that's gonna work. You might turn Draculaura and Clawd to stone too by accident." Cleo said. Deuce sighed, the snakes on top of his head as agitated as he was in their twisting about and hissing, making Cleo think how much he resembled his mother at the moment.

"We've got to try something, or else they'll be in here soon. I don't know where they're all coming from." He said, indicating to Draculaura and Clawd to get ready to move. They lunged and Deuce whipped off his glasses, successfully turning the majority of the door and surrounding wall to stone, with only a small opening left that the attackers had created in the brief moment. The stone was rapidly beginning to crack, not as sturdy as the metal the door had previously been, but at least they didn't have to keep it upright themselves as the stone connected with the wall. The attackers switched tactics, beginning to fire some sort of green blasts through the opening, forcing the others to take cover under the few desks that were on the observatory deck.

"If we can open the dome, can we get out?" Clawd asked, rubbing the back of his head. "You could fly out at least." He said to Draculaura.

"I wouldn't just leave you all here!" she yelled at him, upset at the thought that he would think she would abandon her friends. "I know…I know" he said, grabbing her hand. "I'm just trying to think of you." He said, causing her eyes to water.

"It's worth a shot dude!" Deuce shouted over to him from his and Cleo's hiding spot. Ghoulia was closest to the controls for the dome and sprinted over to them as fast as a zombie could, and pulled the lever down. The dome's roof began to slowly open, the moon brightening up the floor.

"The moonlight might help enhance my spell" Cleo said, "We might have a better chance with it open even if we can't get out."

Suddenly the stone door crumbled and the men started to pile inside. The guys began to get ready to fight again, but another large commotion that sounded like flapping was heard from the dome's opening. Looking up, Draculaura's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and joy. "Daddy?!" she shouted.

Dracula and several other vampires came in through the ceiling, advancing on the new wave of attacking mummies to keep them from reaching the children. Changing from their bat forms quickly, they made short work of subduing the mummies. This was due mostly in part to Dracula using some sort of gypsy-looking pendant that did just what Cleo had hoped her spell could – it reflected the moonlight and directed it at the attacking mummies, immediately disabling any enchantment that they had on them to defend against other monsters' attacks and abilities.

Draculaura bolted over to her father's side, wrapping her arms around him and clinging to him as though her existence depended on it. She was letting the tears roll down her face in her joy at seeing her father again. Dracula also wrapped his arms around his daughter, dropping his head to rest on top of her head.

"Are you alright my dear?" he asked, pulling her away only long enough for him to quickly look her over.

"I'm alright. We're all okay now, thanks to you. How did you know to come here? That we were in trouble? What was that thing you used?" she asked rapidly, her hands shaking a little as the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off. Her father grasped her hands in one of his, rubbing her back to comfort her. To answer, he pointed over to one of the vampires he had brought with him.

Draculaura gasped, "Thad?!"

Her father answered, "He told me about the call you made to him, asking if I knew what it was all about. Since I had not heard from you, I was concerned and called the others' parents too, to see if anybody knew anything." Cleo, Deuce, Clawd and Ghoulia had been listening to his answer as a couple of vampires were checking them over for their injuries, but were having trouble understanding him as his Transylvanian accent became thicker with emotion as he talked.

"Cleo's father told me he had lost all communication with his daughters and what had been going on…so I asked these vampires to come with me since we could travel faster than the other parents to get here in time to check on you. And this…" he paused, holding up the pendant, "is something one of my gypsy associates loaned to me to help bring good luck. Superstitious folk but very resourceful."

Draculaura nodded against her father's side. "But I thought you were going back to Transylvania for the week? Like you always do." She asked, looking up at him.

"Oh, my little girl. It isn't a visit to my old home without you being there. I found other things to do at home to try and keep me from worrying too much about you. But I'm your father…I'm always going to worry. I'm just glad you are so smart and strong, and that you're alright." He answered, pulling her in for another hug despite the fact that it was not something that most would associate with his image as the fearsome vampire lord.

"Come. We should be heading back with these men to the authorities who are waiting at the main lobby. They told us what had happened with the plane and attack on your cabin, and we traced where you might have gone….there's a hotel manager there who is looking for an apology to being turned to stone." Dracula said, flourishing with his cape as they exited. Deuce rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he walked hand-in-hand with Cleo out of the building, Cleo having snickered at the count's last remark. "Oops." Deuce said, "But you know why I did it." Cleo smiled at him before leaning in and giving him a tender kiss. "I know…my hero." She said

They made their way fairly quickly to the main building, the authorities taking all the mummies, including those stone ones, into custody. Ghoulia moaned out a question about a rescue party, to which she received the response that the local police and the triangle's rangers would set out in the morning. Ghoulia headed off with the ranger she had been speaking with to discuss her findings and plan out the rescue efforts. Deuce had already apologized to the manager, he and Cleo explaining their situation, while Clawd and Draculaura were sitting in the nearby restaurant getting something to eat. They were ready to get their friends back as soon as possible.

* * *

Frankie and Jackson had shifted their position after Jackson mentioned how it was a little uncomfortable for him, doing so in the politest way possible that Frankie found adorable. They figured that Heath had fallen asleep alongside Abbey and Clawdeen in the cave. They were now lying on the grass and dirt by the campfire, side-by-side, Frankie reluctant to let him out of her grip as though reassuring herself he was still there. Jackson had draped his left arm over her as she snuggled as close as she dared, cautious not to do anything to aggravate his bruised ribs. They had talked for a while after a few kisses, agreeing that they would like to ty getting back together, hoping that they wouldn't have to spend the last few days out here in the hospital once they got back.

But Frankie had felt herself growing tired, even with the boost that the triangle's electromagnetic field had been giving her throughout the trip. She let out a deep yawn and made herself more comfortable before realizing that she had fallen asleep. Jackson had told her it was alright for her to close her eyes for a bit, but it seemed like she had been asleep for a while based on the level of the fire. It had been roaring after Heath's display of fire, but it had dwindled significantly and was in need of more firewood.

"Jackson?" Frankie asked him, his eyes closed too. She shook him gently to try and wake him. "C'mon Jackson. We fell asleep….but it's time to get up now!" she said, her voice rising in tone and volume as she tried to wake him up again. "Heath! Heath!" she shouted, getting up and running into the cave. Jackson felt the absence of her warmth and blinked open his eyes a few times to look around. He tried to lift his head, but found it more difficult than he had expected, forgetting briefly the state he was in. He closed his eyes again as nausea hit him, listening as Heath and Frankie ran over to him. He felt himself being lifted up again, trying his best to keep the granola bar he'd had down.

"Jackson, c'mon man. Time to get up!" Heath said, letting Jackson know who it was that had picked him up. He involuntarily moaned and leaned into Heath, his cousin's warmth enveloping him and soothing his aching head. "Okay…Okay…we'll just have to do a do-over. Okay, here we go…" Heath said, pushing that unnatural warmth again into Jackson. "I gotcha' cuz'"

Jackson felt himself naturally absorbing the heat, finding that it was doing what he thought impossible – helping to heal him like when he was Holt, albeit much more slowly. Concentrating on finding the warmth from his core that was, for a lack of any other explanation Jackson could think of, connecting with Heath's. He found he was able to actually speak this time through whatever Heath was doing.

"I'm up. I'm okay." He said, secretly wanting Heath to continue. Luckily his cousin either was able to pick up on that or unable to turn things off like a switch, lowering his flame by intervals until he was back to normal.

"Finally!" Frankie shouted over to them from her place at the cave entrance, walking back towards them. Heath was panting slightly, with his arms still wrapped around Jackson. "I'm not so sure I know how many more times I can do that without getting something good to eat. I'm gonna burn out…" Jackson nodded, noticing how much better his head was feeling.

"I appreciate it though…"he gasped out too, still sore but now wide awake. "You should have another bar though…don't need you falling apart on us too."

"Hah! Me fall apart? No way. Besides, we only have three bars and we should split them between the five of us." Heath said, not willing to move just yet even though Frankie clearly was eager to look over Jackson herself.

"No, the four of you…I'm not hungry." Jackson said, urging his cousin to eat. At this point, Clawdeen and Abbey had also made their way over to the cave's entrance to see what was going on, jumping to conclusions when they saw Heath and Jackson.

"Not again…"Clawdeen whined, Abbey letting her go so she could walk over to check things out. "Everybody still here?" she asked.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep guys. The sun should be up in a couple of hours." Jackson said, Clawdeen taking his advice and heading back in. Abbey remained standing at the entrance until Heath nodded at her, letting her know that everything was okay before she walked back inside.

"She's looking better." Frankie said, relieved to be making progress with one of her friends. "I guess that enchantment on her necklace really is holding up like she said…we can get her in the freezer once we get back and she'll be just like new." She said, holding on to her optimism as she handed a bar to Heath.

"Frankie…I can't…" Heath said, although clearly he was hungry.

"Just eat the darn thing…before I throw up on you." Jackson said, feeling himself losing the battle and beginning to gag.

"Whoa!" Heath exclaimed, moving as fast as he could to readjust and move Jackson over to the nearest bush. Frankie grimaced as Jackson lost it, hoping that as soon as the sun came up that help would be making its way out to find them. Jackson finished up and let Heath guide him back over to the fire that Frankie had been building up again.

"You are gross, man" Heath said. "But you feeling better now?"

"Sorta'," Jackson said, using the rocky side of the hill to help himself stand up. "Whatever you've been doing really does help Heath"

"What are you doing?!" Frankie yelled over to him, thinking he must not be in his right mind trying to stand after all that's been happening with him. "You've nearly died, more than once now…you shouldn't be moving around at all!" she rushed over to him as Heath was also trying to get him to stop from standing.

"I'm alright…just had a harder time waking up the past couple of times you've freaked out." Jackson said, knowing almost immediately that the filter between his thoughts and his mouth wasn't quite back up as Frankie opened her mouth in an exaggerated fashion.

"Freaked out?!...freaked out?...that's what you call being concerned about making sure you survived the night?! So sorry to have gotten on your nerves with my girly antics, you've got it covered. So what could possibly be more important to you right now than just doing what I told you to? Why can't you just do that for me?" she huffed, waving her arms around dramatically to the point where he was getting ready to duck should she fling a limb his way.

Jackson scrunched up his face in embarrassment before simply answering, "I need to pee"

"Oh." Frankie said, visibly recoiling from her tantrum. "Well…I suppose… that's…that's okay then. Sorry…I don't…yeah, sorry." She said, turning to focus on looking for the granola bar that had been dropped on the ground to avoid looking at the boys' faces. Heath had a look of mirth on his face, amused by their interaction. "I've leave you to it then." She said, scooting away from them.

"C'mon." Heath said, putting a hand on his cousin's shoulder while chuckling.

"I don't need help with this, thank you." Jackson said, not sure if he could get more embarrassed.

"I don't doubt it, and I'm not gonna help you with that either. " Heath answered him as he directed him away from camp and well out of the line of vision or hearing. "I'm coming along to keep you upright long enough for you to do your business. Don't worry…we're family." He said, taking delight at causing his cousin further discomfort in front of what he assumed was officially his girlfriend again. "Besides, maybe it's not all about you…"

Several minutes passed before Frankie saw them return to camp, Heath pretty much carrying Jackson back. Frankie had been debating on whether or not it would be a good idea to at least call out to them if not actually go into the forest after them when she saw the two of them return. "What took you guys so long?" she asked as she moved behind Jackson to support him as she had done previously.

"Frankie, you don't need to hold onto me like this. I can lay down again." Jackson protested, wanting to be sure that he wasn't making things any more uncomfortable for her. He felt bad about her constant worrying and what is was doing to her, even if he didn't actually mind being so close to her.

"Nah uh…" she said, "like last time, when we both fell asleep? That's not gonna happen again if I can avoid it. You were the one who said to make sure you stayed awake throughout the night."

"She's right. You should just listen to her." Heath added, letting out a yawn. "We're both looking out for you."

Jackson sighed, relieved that while it still significantly hurt, it had eased up from the point of every breath winding him – a sign that Heath's actions had at the very least helped him to go from cracked ribs to just bruised. "I know..." he started to say again before Frankie interrupted him to say to Heath, "You fell asleep too!"

Heath sheepishly shrugged. "Oops?...Things worked out okay though, right?" he turned to ask Jackson, trying to determine if his cousin had been withholding anything else from them. He had talked with Abbey in the cave to help her, and Clawdeen, to calm down enough to fall asleep. He had been upset that Jackson hadn't confided everything with them about the severity of his injuries, even if done with good intentions to keep everyone moving. He was satisfied that Jackson was doing better than before when Abbey had said those few words that send him into a cold dread – something that is hard to do for a fire elemental. Jackson nodded to him and Frankie sent him a look that confirmed she would be more vigilant than before in watching him. "Okay then. I'm gonna head back in with the girls if you need me. Sun should be up soon though, right?" he said as he walked back to the cave entrance.

"Take the bar Heath." Jackson said, hoping to get Heath to take care of himself too. He had been impressed with his ability to keep everything together in such a serious situation. It was so unlike his usual goofy manner, although he still brought that into the conversation every now and then. "Please…" he added, trying to play the pity card when Heath was still hesitant about having the whole thing when Jackson probably still needed some food too. It seemed to have worked, as Heath took the bar out of Frankie's outstretched hand.

"Fine. I'm not gonna argue with food." Heath said, practically devouring the small bar in one giant bite. He headed back into the cave with one last look at the Frankie and Jackson outside. Frankie unashamedly hugged Jackson closer to her once it was just the two of them outside. Jackson did his best to hug her back in the position he was in, gripping her arms tightly too.

"I keep telling you. I'll be okay – I've got you and, ironically, Heath to take care of me." Jackson mumbled into her shoulder. "Who'd have thought Heath had it in him?" he laughed gently.

"Yeah…you should have seen him though…when he thought that he'd….killed you. It was horrible…I …"she started before Jackson quieted her with a kiss to her cheek. "We can talk about that after we're back at the resort. It shouldn't be long now." He said, indicating the rays that were beginning to peak over the hilltops on the horizon.

"It's a pretty sight." Frankie admired. "It'd be even better if we saw it from our cabin."

"Nah….it's perfect like this." Jackson said, rubbing Frankie's arms affectionately. After a moment of silence admiring the view, Jackson asked, "How are you holding up?"

"Hmm?...Oh, I'm fine. Still got plenty of charge. But I'd be better if we took Clawdeen's advice and had no more drama for a while." She said.

"Oh no…now you've jinxed it." Jackson said teasingly. Although with their luck – or just his, he thought – something else might happen. Thankfully the next couple of hours passed uneventfully, the sun reaching over the hills to cover everything in its light. Heath and Clawdeen exited from the cave, stretching as they walked.

"Rock beds are not going to be a hot commodity…ever…I think I fared better in the crash than in there." Clawdeen said, rubbing her stiff neck.

"How's Abbey?" Frankie yawned, exhausted after spending most of the night with Jackson.

"She's fine. Got that chilly atmosphere around her again, which woke me up when she decided to make a little snowfall around her in her sleep." Heath said, Clawdeen nodding her head in agreement.

"What about you two?" Clawdeen asked as she looked over Frankie and Jackson on the ground. Frankie smiled and waved off her concern, but an ill-timed yawn betrayed just how tired she really was by this point in their adventure.

"Why don't you get some sleep in the cave with Abbey? Heath and Clawdeen are up now; they'd be more than happy to keep poking at me while you sleep." Jackson suggested, beginning to move around a little to allow her room to get up. She was startled enough to wake up some more and tighten her grip on him. "No!" she yelled out, a little harsher than she had intended as the wince on Jackson's face showed.

"No…no, I'm okay," she lied, "I don't want to go in there. I….I want to stay here with you. I don't want to be anywhere else in case…I dunno…in case…" she trailed off as she continued to hug Jackson tight, either subconsciously or to let him know she wasn't planning on going anywhere.

"Okay. How about you try to lean against the side of the hill then? Try to get some sleep?" Clawdeen suggested. "Jackson's right. We can keep an eye on him and you don't have to go anywhere."

Frankie seemed to consider that idea for a moment before nodding her head and shifting her hold on Jackson so she could lean against the side of the hill. She rested her head on Jackson's and within minutes of closing her eyes, she was asleep.

"She's finally asleep." Jackson said, trying to move out of her arms so he could make her more comfortable. Heath signaled for him to stop moving though.

"You're gonna tear open your side again. Plus, who knows what she'll do if she wakes up and can't immediately find you." Heath said.

Clawdeen chuckled at the thought, knowing that Frankie wouldn't take too kindly to the idea. "She really just wants to make sure she…hasn't lost you. She had been worried about you before the trip too. Let her just hold onto you." She said, getting up from her seat by Heath. "I'm gonna head to the stream for a few minutes. Don't wake her, or Abbey." She pointed out unnecessarily, but it was Heath she was talking to and he could cause trouble just by sitting still it seemed. Heath held his hands up in mock surrender, putting on a look of false insult as Clawdeen walked past him into the forest.

He was poking at the fire when Abbey came out of the cave to see what was going on. "Hey. What are you doing up?" he asked, walking over to her. He hadn't thought she would be up soon with the way she was the day before, but he should have known she was clever enough to do what she said she did to her necklace.

"I am fine. But I wake up alone and wonder where everyone went." She said, giving Heath a hug, which he happily returned in his relief at her quick recovery. It looked like all she really would need once they got back would be some time in a freezer to cool off again. "Do you want to come out and eat something? There's the selection of granola bar and granola bar." Abbey smiled at Heath's humor, glad that he was able to keep it up to make her feel better. _He really is wonderful guy_, she thought, still holding onto him. Giving him a kiss, she walked out of the cave opening with him.

"Then I guess I will have some granola bar." She said, looking at the scenery. "Will be romantic meal with boyfriend." Heath smiled at her response before letting her go to grab one of the remaining bars from where they had put them. He broke it in half and handed it to her saying, "Sorry there isn't more to go around."

"I thought there were three bars?" she asked as she munched on the one he had handed her. Heath shrugged and answered, "Yeah…well…I had to help out Jackson again earlier, remember?" he asked. Abbey paused and then nodded her head as she vaguely recalled the hazy events from a few hours ago. She had been still mostly asleep when Clawdeen had shaken her away to say that something was up.

"Oh…you needed to eat to keep up strength. I get it." She said, finishing up her half of the granola bar. She figured that Clawdeen would have the other whenever she showed up again. She looked behind Heath to where Frankie and Jackson were sitting on the ground against the hillside. "Is he supposed to be asleep?" she asked.

"What?!" Heath exclaimed, turning around quickly to see that Jackson had indeed fallen asleep against Frankie's side yet again. Moving over to them, he gently tried to wake him up without waking Frankie up too.

"Jackson." He called out in a level just above a whisper, poking Jackson in the shoulder. "Jackson" he repeated, resorting to giving him a quick snap to the face with his hand, unintentionally letting out a little flame in the process.

"Wha?! I'm up. Ugh…c'mon man…you're killin' me here." Jackson groggily replied as he blinked a few times to get his bearings. "Ugh…I don't think you need to keep me from sleeping _at all_ at this point for my concussion." He finished, finally noticing the way that Heath had recoiled and was letting Abbey rub his arm in an effort to comfort him. "What's the matter?" he asked, trying to keep things at a whisper to not wake Frankie.

"Nothing…I'm sorry…it's nothing. You're probably right." Heath said, looking as though he didn't really know what to say.

"What is it?" Jackson repeated to Abbey since his cousin seemed unwilling to talk with him. Clawdeen made her way back to the campsite and immediately sensed the tense atmosphere. Walking closer, she asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing." Heath repeated, going to sit at the far edge of the area they had cleared to make their camp, giving Jackson a wide berth. Clawdeen rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. "Something did. You don't need animal instincts to know that you're acting like a kicked puppy, so spill." She said, looking between the three of them.

"I fell asleep again." Jackson supplied when the other two weren't answering. "Heath woke me up to check on me. I don't know what I did." He said, going back to his earlier efforts to disentangle himself from Frankie's death grip – her father had definitely made sure to pass along his and his wife's enhanced strength. Ignoring Clawdeen's and Abbey's protests, he successfully managed to break free and lay Frankie down in the grass. She let out a sigh and he tensed, expecting her to wake up and berate him for moving around, but she just made herself more comfortable. Slowly standing with Clawdeen's reluctant help, he walked over to where Heath and Abbey were sitting, swaying slightly.

"You say killing. Not helping Heath to be feeling better about last night." Abbey said, Heath turning to her with a betrayed look on his face for admitting what was wrong with him. He thought he was doing a good job with just staying away, but she knew him better than that it seemed.

"What?" Jackson asked, confused. "When did I say…you mean when I was grouching at you to sleep? Heath, I didn't mean anything by that. You have to know that." He said, easing himself to sit next to Heath.

"But you're right anyway. I just cause trouble. Jackson…if I hadn't pushed you, blasted at you, you wouldn't have gotten to the point…and again I hurt you. I do spontaneously combust still and…I want to help- I'm curious and it's why I end up poking around everywhere. I can't help it" Heath said, folding in on himself as he spoke. Abbey was trying to console him, understanding that manipulation of an element can be taken the wrong way, as she experienced on her first encounters with Frankie and the others. But Heath wasn't letting her touch him, and so she and Clawdeen stood awkwardly in the middle of the conversation.

"Heath…I might actually be dead right now if you hadn't done whatever it was you did, at risk to yourself too. And I think I'm getting better too from it – I don't think the cut in my side is as deep as it was earlier, and while my head is still screaming at me…" Jackson said, resting a hand on Heath's shoulders, "I don't think I'm liable to falling into a coma….it's like what they say about fire having the potential to be harmful, but also helpful when managed the right way….and you definitely are the master at this, even if you don't feel like it right now."

Heath looked over to his cousin, encouraged by his little impromptu speech. "Yeah?" he asked in a small voice. He was used to being considered the screw-up and felt ashamed at how he had originally thought that while lame to have his normie cousin come to Monster High, it would mean Jackson would be called the screw-up instead of him.

Jackson smiled at him. "Yeah…you feeling better now?" Heath nodded and answered, "I think so. Thanks. You better get back over to Frankie though before she wakes up – I don't think any of us wants to have one of her scoldings." Heath gave a small smile, allowing Abbey to actually come closer and give him a small hug.

"What did I ask for? It was simple- really – but do you guys have to make everything so dramatic? I thought that was a girls' things, especially Draculaura?" Clawdeen said to lighten the mood. While she could deal with the usual dramas that were ongoing in her and her friends' lives, this kind was making her fur stand on end and she was getting tired of it. Luckily, her usual attitude was what they needed to seem more like themselves.

She nodded at them, "That's better. C'mon Jackson, let's leave them alone for a while. Let Abbey do her thing." She made to grab his arm to pull him up when they heard Frankie make a small noise and saw her reach out with an arm to feel the space next to her. Bolting upright, she looked around for Jackson, spotting him still leaning next to Heath after their heart-to-heart. Before she could run over in what was assuredly her jumping to the worst possible conclusion, Clawdeen held up a hand to stop her. "It's fine. Everybody's fine. We're just getting all mushy over here. Nothin' new. Here," she said, pulling Jackson up a little rougher than she had intended, which she realized when he let out a hiss of pain. Walking him over to Frankie and ignoring his protest of letting him do it on his own, she placed him a little more gently on the ground next to Frankie. Jackson looked up at Clawdeen from his spot on Frankie's right with an irritated look, clearly asking with his eyes what the heck she was doing. But Frankie prevented him from moving anywhere else, latching on to his side. Jackson sighed and held up his free hand in surrender as Clawdeen gave him an 'I told you so' look.

"Okay. I'm ready for my half of the granola bar." Clawdeen said, taking the piece Heath offered to her. "You hungry yet Frankie? Jackson?" She asked through a mouthful. Frankie most likely was going to deny needing anything, but a look from Clawdeen let her realize she wasn't going to get away with it. Smirking in victory, the werewolf grabbed the other bar and handed it to Frankie, who took it and broke it to eat her half. Jackson predictably refused the half she offered to him, despite her pushing.

"I'm not hungry enough yet, but thanks. I'm just gonna sleep for a few minutes." Jackson said once Frankie had finished. "It's okay," he headed off the ensuing panic that her wide eyes signaled, "the swelling from the concussion has to have gone down enough for me to get some rest. You could use some too."

"You guys go ahead. We can look around and see if there's anything we can gather for food if we're going to be here for a while longer." Heath said, clearly still wanting to put some distance between himself and Jackson if only to think things through on his own. "We won't go too far…shout if you are needing us." Abbey said, letting Heath know that even if they needed to get back here for him to help Jackson, they could do so quickly. Jackson had his eyes closed already but gave a thumb up to where he thought they were standing. "You should go too. You'd probably be more helpful with them than here." Frankie said. Clawdeen hesitantly shrugged, but joined Abbey and Heath, pushing Heath to come despite his protest that someone should stay if they were both going to sleep. "We won't be long, like I said." Abbey encouraged, pulling on his arm. "I will need you to help me" she said. Heath sighed, aware of what Abbey was doing but was grateful for making him feel needed, walking into the nearby forest to look for food.

Once they were gone, Frankie looked down at Jackson sleeping in her arms. Fighting the urge to make him open his eyes, keep his talking to her so she knew he was okay, she hugged him closer_. I won't sleep_, she thought, _I'll just relax a little- he said he would be okay to sleep for a while and he's right_. Eventually, her lack of solid sleep from the night before caught up with her, her head drooping and succumbing to sleep.

* * *

As soon as the sun came up, the search and rescue teams were bombarded by Cleo and the others insisting that they joining the groups that were heading out to the two locations determined by Ghoulia as the best possible guesses for their friends' location. Originally denied on the terms of endangering their own safety any further than what they had previously been through, some persuasion by Count Dracula ended all discussion on that matter. He refused Cleo from going, arguing that she was needed to provide all the details that he was unable to describe in terms of the magic used and in trying to contact her father and sister. Dracula was also reluctant to let his daughter out of his sight so soon after such a close call, keeping her nearby as he dealt with the legal processes and matters to keep these hired assassins contained as well as to update the parents of the others. Clawd and Deuce joined one helicopter, and Ghoulia went in the other to keep the program she had been able to transfer to her now recovered computer running and updating the helicopters. They were made aware that there concern over a potential storm had been well founded as it apparently was continuing to wreak havoc on the equipment into the early morning hours.

It was nearing mid-morning by the time the teams approached the areas where the signals were coming from, although Clawd and Deuce's helicopter had to land and proceed on foot after reaching a certain latitude bearing because of the affects that could occur with the residual storm charges. They and the four crew they were with exited the plane and got ready to hike.

"How are we going to be able to continue following the signal from here without getting lost ourselves?" Clawd asked, grabbing one of the supply backpacks from the helicopter. One of the team explained that they could continue on foot more easily with ground tracking equipment and that it was only a matter of being vigilant. Without anything else to argue, the boys had to just go with what they were instructed to do. An hour or so of hiking later and they were rewarded by finding the crumpled metal that had been a part of the others' plane.

"Heath! Abbey!" Deuce called out as the men began to make their way into the wreckage. "Frankie! Jackson!" he continued to call out, cupping the sides of his mouth to try and make himself heard. Clawd was doing the same with his sister's name. The men quickly confirmed that there weren't any casualties in this portion, but told the boys to be optimistic since the black box and the area around it seemed to have been tampered with after the crash.

"Why didn't somebody immediately notice that something had gone wrong? Why did it take so long to realize that there had been a crash or where the plane had gone down?" Deuce asked, keeping his voice as calm as he could despite the rising panic.

"The whole plane was messed with by those mummies. They made the plane come out this far into the triangle knowing that the signals would get mixed up. They could have easily made it so that it wouldn't send things right to the receptors in the hanger." One of the rescue crew said, attempting to keep the boys from just rushing out into the surrounding forest and adding two more to list to find. "But it looks like you've got clever friends. By the looks of it, they were able to locate the black box and boost the signal enough to call for help. They have to be nearby"

Another man called out for the head of the team to look at something. "Sir, these planes are just hovering planes. They don't go up higher than what a ski lift might bring you…it must have broken on impact. It wasn't built for this sort of thing. If we find another section, we might find them." He said, indicating the path of the debris. "The trees are bent and broken this way, so the other pieces might have broken off first."

The head of the crew patted the man on the back, saying, "Good man. That's a plan. We can go from there." He motioned with his hand for the rest to follow, making their way along the same route that the others had taken. Shortly, they spotted the console section that Jackson had been in, Clawd sniffing the air.

"Uh oh…" he said, gaining the attention of Deuce and several of the other men. "I smell blood. Old…but there has to be a lot for me to still get a whiff of it from here." He and Deuce sprinted over to the wreckage, ignoring the calls of the men to be careful and go slow. Looking inside, they were horrified by the sight of blood on the floor and portions of the dashboard.

"Any way you can tell whose it is?" Deuce asked, swallowing thickly at the thought that one of their friends might not have made it through the night. Clawd was shaking his head as he covered his nose. "No…the only one I might be able to even come close to guessing at would be Clawdeen. I don't think it's hers though…" Backing out, Clawd rushed out and called out to his sister and the others.

The men also inspected the wreckage, the medic trying to guess if the amount of blood might have been fatal for any of the missing. "Are they all monsters?" he asked, worried about the answer even though he had heard in the briefing before they left that one of them might have been a normie when the crash occurred.

"No…Jackson. If he was Jackson and not Holt when they went down, then no... I mean he's only part normie." Deuce answered. "Why?" he cautiously asked, Clawd turning around from whatever he had been looking and sniffing around for.

"I'm not used to dealing with normie injuries, but what experience I do have from school doesn't look too good for him if this is his blood all over." He said, moving aside when one of the other rescue crew that had been looking at the controls scooted behind him. She had been tinkering with something before turning and giving her analysis, "It looks like the navigation was messed with, but with the way the steering is locked, I'd say one of your friends managed to maneuver the plane long enough to bring it down softer than a nosedive."

"That'd be Jackson then, not Holt." Deuce confirmed, dread beginning to form in his very core. The woman nodded and shot him and Clawd a sympathetic look. "He was probably the only one in this area of the plane to keep the controls locked. I'm guessing that the others probably were huddled in the middle section of the plane."

The others were trying to determine in which direction they should head in next, since the others hadn't stayed with this section of the plane either. As they were looking at one of their maps, Clawd began to sniff around excitedly. "Deuce, I smell that weird-smelling water the girls had with them after the spa. Clawdeen would have definitely smelled it and followed it. They'd need water. This way." He said, bolting off in the direction of the spring.

"Clawd, wait!" Deuce yelled out, running after him as did the crew, although they were losing sight of him fast. "Clawd, wait!" Deuce repeated, yelling louder this time.

Frankie had been jolted out of sleep by his shout, but her groggy mind hadn't processed what it was that had woken her. The others were also sitting around, all hoping that what they heard was the same thing.

"Was that a shout?" Abbey asked, standing up with Heath. Clawdeen walked over in the direction she thought the shout had come. She sniffed the air, eyes closed as she concentrated. Opening them as a huge smile formed on her face. "I can smell them. It's Clawd….Clawd! Clawd!" she shouted, taking off into the forest.

"Clawdeen wait!" Heath said, echoing Deuce's shout. "Don't go too fast. You could get hurt." He shouted out, he and Abbey following her lead. Frankie was left with Jackson asleep in her arms, trying to figure out what she should do. She decided to remain where she was seated, trusting her friends to make their way back to camp. She focused instead on waking up Jackson again. They had all been alternating waking him up at what they guessed was every hour for a while. She had slept through the first couple of times, missing her friends' panic when they had a hard time. But by now, she had just been dozing as they waited about, having nothing to do to occupy themselves after collecting some nuts and berries that Heath had said were safe to consume.

"Jackson…Jackson…time to wake up" she said, shaking him a little. She felt bad, since they had woken him up only a short while ago. "C'mon. I think we're heading home now…" she tried again, but Jackson didn't do more than grumble. She tried to gently get them both back into a sitting position, stopping as soon as he let out another hiss of pain but remained asleep. It looked as though they were staying where they were then until the others came back.

* * *

Clawdeen and Clawd managed to find each other within moments of catching whiff of one another, locking tightly together in a hug as they reunited. They would deny their actions of sibling affection and swear the others to secrecy, but for now were too happy to see the other alright. Abbey and Heath weren't too far behind, coming to meet them as Deuce also ran up to them. "Dudes! You're okay!" he smiled, giving them both a one-armed hug. "Why do you not have a shirt on?" Deuce asked Heath, arching an eyebrow.

"Boy are we glad to see you." Heath said, retuning the embrace and ignoring the other's question as he just laughed in delight. Abbey nodded, smiling widely at seeing her friends again. "Where are Frankie and Jackson?" Deuce asked, Clawd focusing more on Clawdeen and looking over her injured arm as she yelled at him. "Yes that hurts, don't do that…what took you guys so long?" she was complaining to him.

"They're up the hill a little further." Heath said, looking around. "Did you guys come alone or somethin'? How'd you get here?" he asked. Deuce pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Clawd. "We came with a rescue crew but the nose here caught whiff of you and bolted. I think they might be a few minutes trying to find us." He said, making his way to the path that Abbey, Heath, and Clawdeen had made.

"Up this way?" he asked. They nodded and he turned back to them, "You guys want to stay here and wait for the others, see if you can get their attention?"

"Sure. Be better than more running around." Abbey shrugged, admitting her still existing exhaustion from dealing with her necklace in her reluctance to engage in something she normally boasts that her people are very good at doing. Heath looked over to Clawd, getting his attention to ask him to keep an eye for Abbey before walking back with Deuce.

"What's wrong with Abbey?" Deuce asked as they climbed back. Heath sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Her necklace cracked a little in the crash, but she was able to fix it…it made her sick though and I think she's still tired."

Deuce nodded, grabbing at a branch to help him keep his balance as they zig-zagged up their makeshift path. He took a deep breath before asking the question that had been at the forefront of his mind. "So, we came across the control section of the plane…there was a lot of blood…"

"Yeah…Jackson….well…"Heath said as he struggled over how to put into words exactly what they had all been dealing with over the night. At this point they had entered their makeshift camp and Deuce spotted Jackson unconscious in Frankie's lap, shirtless and wrapped in blood-soaked bandages. _That explains Heath's missing shirt_, he distantly thought.

"Holy….what…is he…" he stammered out as he rushed over to Frankie who had given him a small smile at his appearance, eyes watering up.

"He's still alive. It was a tough night." She answered Deuce, who had knelt beside her as he looked over Jackson's state for himself. "He's just sleeping right now. He's difficult to wake up…" she said, laughing a little as a few tears made its way down her cheeks. "But I'm so glad you guys are here now."

Deuce smiled at Frankie and her usual display of emotion. "Jackson…dude…c'mon. Time to get going." Deuce said, shaking Jackson's shoulder gently. Heath bit the bottom of his lip, worrying that maybe they shouldn't have given in to Jackson's request to get some sleep. But Jackson began to stir as he had done the past few times they had pushed him to get up. Groaning a little, he moved his face as though to hide it in Frankie's midsection. But he eventually did blink a few times as Frankie also worked to urge him awake. The first thing he saw as things came into focus was Deuce looking back at him through his glasses. "Deuce?" he asked in a small voice, not sure if he had started to hallucinate or something.

"Yeah…"Deuce laughed, smiling once his friend woke up and recognized him. "It's me dude. You got yourself in a heck of a mess. How're you doin'?" Jackson still looked a little unsure of things, but responded with his usual humor. "Oh, you know. I've been better…"

"I bet." Deuce responded, worry beginning to make its way onto his features again. "You keep lying there and we'll get you outta here. Leave it to us." Jackson nodded, looking over to Heath as though to make sure things were really as he was seeing them.

"Rescue team came, cuz'. We'll get you back and fix you up so you can take Frankie here out on a hot date." He said, earning a chuckle from Frankie. "Yeah. I've got a few ideas in mind." She said, trying to keep up the banter, even if slightly forced and awkward.

The rescue team made its way into the camp with the others, the medics working to get Jackson able to make the trip back to the helicopter. Clawd looked over at Jackson, eyes widening and tightening his grip on his sister. They made their way back to the plane at a slow pace, Jackson supported under each shoulder by a medic. By the third time they had to stop so he could catch his breath, Deuce grabbed onto his legs and Jackson was carried the rest of the way. Radioing the other helicopter that they had found them and were heading back, the group all breathed a sigh of relief as their adventure seemed to be coming to a close.

* * *

Cleo, Draculaura and her father were waiting at the airfield, Ghoulia and her plane touching down shortly after they had arrived from the main hotel. Two ambulances had also been called, to which Dracula had explained were for precautionary measures so as to ease the worry on his daughter and friend's faces. He reminded them that they had been outside all night and would need to be checked over, urging them not to assume the worst.

Ghoulia rushed out and over to the waiting girls to greet their friends. The medics were first out of the helicopter, sliding open the doors, and Clawd and Clawdeen jumped out first. They could see that she was cradling her left arm and were concerned for her wellbeing. They were about to rush over before Dracula held them back, "Wait for everybody to get out so they can get medical attention if they need it." Clawd and Clawdeen made their way into one of the ambulances, but it didn't immediately pull away.

They watched as Heath and Abbey were then let out and Abbey entered the ambulance with Clawd and Clawdeen, before one of the medics came running back with those from the second ambulance and a gurney. Draculaura gasped and covered her mouth with both hands as she started to tear up, Cleo and Ghoulia also gasping. They stayed where they were as Dracula had told them to, watching as Deuce came out and turned back to reach in. Slowly, they saw that he and Frankie were moving an unconscious and limp Jackson out of the plane with the help and instruction of the medics, who then pushed them aside to rush him into the ambulance.

"Oh no." Cleo said, taking comfort from the hug that Ghoulia was giving her. "This is because of me…" she started, beginning to openly cry.

Dracula motioned that it was okay to go over to their friends now, saying that they should be brief and head to the waiting limo to meet the others at the hospital in town. Not needing to be told again, they rushed over to Deuce, Frankie and Heath. Heath looked like he was fuming, his hair and hands blazing. As they approached they could him yelling, "I needed to go with him…I'm his family. They don't know what happened during the night…AGHH!" He emphasized his frustration with a larger burst of flame.

"Dude! Calm down. We're heading there now." Deuce said, accepting the hug that Cleo had given him as she flung herself at him. Draculaura was about to go hug Frankie, but paused as she noticed that her clothes were covered in blood – _Jackson's blood_, she thought, feeling a combination of woozy and angry that he had been hurt by these men. Ghoulia had no such reservations, pulling her into a tight hug and letting Frankie cry onto her shoulder.

"Come. Come." Dracula said, waving them over as he opened up the door to the limo for them. "We will meet your friends at the hospital. But you must first put flame out." He said, pointedly looking at Heath. "Anger is not good at time like this." Heath huffed but concentrated on reducing his flame to nothing as the others got into the limo. He followed them into the car and they made their way over to the hospital.

* * *

Reaching the hospital, they met Clawd in the emergency room. "How is everybody?" Cleo asked, but Heath made a beeline for the main desk, demanding that they tell him where Jackson was at.

Clawd sighed, "Clawdeen's getting an x-ray to see if there's any bone damage, but the medics in the ambulance thought it was more of a muscle injury and would just need a sling and rest. Abbey's been brought downstairs to cool down in the freezer …" he said, shivering a little at the thought of why there might be a freezer down there.

"She should be good as new in an hour or so…I don't know about Jackson though. I had a hard enough time getting them to tell me about Abbey since I'm not family." Clawd finished up, running a hand through his hair.

"But where's Jackson now?" Frankie asked, wanting to argue with the woman behind the counter like Heath was doing. Clawd could only shrug and provide what little he knew from watching by Clawdeen's side.

"They rolled him away from where they had Clawdeen and Abbey sitting next to each other. I think I heard something about possibly doing surgery or something." He said, backtracking as Frankie started to tear up again. "But they may not have. It's loud in the back and I think they were just trying to…Frankie!" he shouted after her as she ran over to follow Heath as he was making his way over to the elevator.

"What did they tell you?" she asked, getting in the elevator with him. They could see the others staring at them as the doors closed. "Did you know that Abbey is downstairs?" she said, trying to get him to talk. He shook his head and took in a few deep breaths.

"Sorry. They said they would have to kick me out if I couldn't keep my flame controlled…Yeah, I heard Clawd say she was downstairs. I'll have to go check on her soon, but I think she's okay."

Frankie nodded, "Probably just to be careful. She seemed back to normal this morning, but I doubt she'd refuse some time to cool down." The doors opened and she followed Heath as he started to look at the numbers on the side of the hall. "But you didn't answer my question about Jackson."

"They moved him up a few floors above the emergency room so they could close the gash in his side and check out his head injury. Looks like you were right about it needing stitches. They want to check out how bad his ribs are too, but they need to get the swelling in his head down first – they think. They don't have a lot of doctors here who specialized in normie health so this is them pushing him off to the side for a while 'till one of the ones from the normie hospital twenty minutes away gets here." He said, rushing through it as he started to flame up again. Frankie put a hand on his arm to get him to notice, and he pulled the flame back. "Thanks." He said, finding the waiting area for the surgery area he was in.

"So he doesn't need surgery for the gash or any internal injuries?" she asked him, sitting next to him. Heath shook his head no, repeating the explanation given to him that this was the best place they could think of to treat him without mixing monster remedies into his injuries like they had done in the emergency room. She sighed, thinking that it was some good news. Cleo and Deuce came walking down the hall a few minutes later, looking around briefly before spotting them and walking over to sit opposite them.

"Clawd's with Clawdeen, who's howling about not wanting to wear a sling. But it looks like she only needs to wear it for two or three weeks. Draculaura and Ghoulia went with Count Dracula downstairs to check on Abbey; make sure she's not alone…." Cleo said, looking to Heath as she said the last bit to let him know that his girlfriend was being looked after.

"How's Jackson doing though? Is he that bad?" Deuce asked. Cleo nodded in shared concern. "We saw how he looked when pulled off the helicopter. He looked so….dead…and not in a good way."

"He's not dying!" Heath said to her, a little more forcefully and harsh than he had intended. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, leaning back into the chair. "Sorry…it's…not looking good right now."

Frankie turned to answer Cleo and Deuce, explaining everything that Heath had told her a few minutes ago to spare him having to repeat it himself. About twenty-five minutes later, they saw three normie doctors make their way past them and go past the doors to the operating area. By this time, Clawd and Clawdeen and joined the others.

"Whoa. I thought they only needed to check in with one doctor?" Clawdeen asked, unintentionally setting Heath on edge again. Cleo's phone rang and she answered after announcing it was her father, walking down the hall to have some privacy in her conversation. Checking on her every now and then, Deuce had an idea.

"Hey dude…" he said to Heath, "you can use my phone to call Abbey downstairs. Might make you feel a little better."

Frankie gasped, sitting more upright in her chair. "We haven't called our parents yet! They're gonna be so mad…" she said, biting her bottom lip again.

"Relax. Draculaura's father already let them know what was going on and that you were all back." Clawd said, idly flipping through one of the old magazines in the tiny waiting area. "Doesn't mean they aren't going to decide to never let us out on our own again." Clawdeen added, slouching in her chair.

Rolling his eyes at his sister's grim attitude, even if there was some truth in it, Clawd gave her a tiny shove with his shoulder. "Heath…you should give Deuce's idea a try."

Heath sighed but took Deuce's offered phone and dialed Draculaura's phone, figuring that she would always have it on her. Sure enough, she picked up right away and the phone was transferred to Abbey. Heath got up and headed a few steps away from the group so he could talk with her, but still be close enough in case the doctors came out soon.

Cleo walked back over to them, sitting back down next to Deuce. "My dad's okay…so is Nefera. Who had any idea that it would be her to put all the pieces together?" she began, waving her hand in her usual manner. "These Assyrian mummies were using Hittite amulets and magic because some Egyptian mummy who had been married to a Hittite as part of our alliance after Qadash decided she wanted to get back whatever it was she thought she had a claim to…I mean, sure, we came to a stalemate and decided to announce how we won. She could have done the same thing….technically we're both winners…Anyway, she hired an entire outlying Assyrian mercenary group to try and take on daddy, but Nefera figured out who she was and what she was up to at one of the galas she had been playing assistant at."

Cleo sighed and snuggled into Deuce's side before continuing. "Daddy will be taking care of any medical costs and asked me to tell you that he is sorry that you got caught up in this…I may be putting words into his mouth….but still, thank you all for being here for me." She said with absolute sincerity. Frankie smiled at her, letting her know that she was there for her friend.

"How are you holding up though?" Cleo asked Frankie, looking at the blood still covering her friend's dress and arms. Frankie's smile dropped and she hugged herself, making herself look smaller than her already petite size. Cleo got up and sat next to her, letting Frankie lean into her.

"He was gone for a moment…."she said, closing her eyes and taking comfort in her friend's touch. Cleo looked to Clawdeen for an explanation, since Heath was still in the corner talking with Abbey. Clawdeen felt the others' stares and had to fight the tears in her own eyes. Swallowing, she told them how they had found Jackson in the plane all bloodied and how he hadn't been breathing.

"When we found him, he wasn't awake and wasn't breathing. Frankie got him breathing again and wrapped him up with what was in the emergency kit on the plane. But later on there was a storm….it made us all so angry. We all said some really, _really_ nasty stuff to one another. I remember just wanting to hurt the others, even though I knew it wasn't really me….it just didn't matter and I couldn't control myself….I never really apologized to you for what I said, Frankie." She said, her brother offering her a tissue which she gratefully took.

Frankie nodded at her. "I know you didn't mean it. Neither did I. I'm sorry too. I think we all are" she said, sniffling a little as she spoke.

Clawdeen wiped her eyes and continued, looking to Heath slowly walking back and forth in the corner. "Heath got angry with Jackson and blasted him with his fire right into the side of the hill….he was gasping for breath and…was bleeding out again….and then he was just…gone." She said, reliving the moment.

"What do you mean, gone?" Clawd asked his sister, disturbed by how much this had upset Clawdeen. Frankie let out a quiet sob, before finishing up for Clawdeen. "He was _gone_ gone….I was holding him and I was trying to get him to focus on just getting his breathing under control…and he told me how he was getting so tired and cold. He kissed me and then collapsed in my arms and there was nothing I could do to help him….Heath….Heath was the one to do something." she said, rubbing her arms as she shook while recounting their night.

Deuce swore lightly, thinking about how it made sense now that both boys were shirtless when they got there. Clawd and Cleo also had similar horrific expressions on their face. "What did he do?" Clawd asked, looking over to elemental, guiltily feeling as though they were gossiping about him while he was trying to help himself and his girlfriend.

Frankie shrugged. "They're family…and fire elementals….Jackson apparently can do a little with his fire abilities now too. I guess they just connected….Heath said something about trying to reignite his core when he was…."she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence but everyone understanding what she had chosen not to say. Heath had finished his conversation and was walking back over to them. They understood to let this conversation drop, more sympathetic to Heath's behavior.

"Abbey's coming up now with the girls…Thanks, man" he said, handing the phone back to Deuce. Shortly afterward, the three girls were walking over to them, Dracula noticeably absent. Abbey came over and hugged Heath, who closed his eyes and held her tightly. Ghoulia and Draculaura sat in the remaining seats, Draculaura still on edge in dealing with Frankie covered in blood.

"Any news?" Draculaura asked, receiving only negative responses. She and Ghoulia repeated to Frankie all that had happened with them while they had been searching for them. Shortly after, one of the doctors that they had seen go in about a half hour earlier, came out to them.

"How is he?!" Frankie jumped up from her seat. Taken aback and still trying to adjust to dealing with monsters rather than humans, the doctor took a second to put his doctor persona back into place. "I'm sorry young lady, but I can only talk with family. I was told his cousin is out here?" he said, trying to figure out which of them could possibly be related to his patient.

"Yeah, that's me." Heath said, walking over to him and letting his hair flare up again briefly. Again, the doctor was taken aback and Heath had to compose himself. "Sorry…sorry…how is he?" he asked as he got his hair back to normal. The doctor swallowed and motioned for him to follow him through the doors to discuss things with him. Frankie was a nervous wreck as they waited, convinced that she was going to fall apart at the stitches if she couldn't get any information.

* * *

Heath reappeared a few minutes later, and called to Frankie, who moved quicker than any of her friends had thought she could in her state. Heath explained what the doctors had said about having to re-do the stitches that the monster doctors had done and that they had to treat him for a reaction to one of the medicines they had attempted to use earlier, like Heath had said.

"He's gonna be unconscious for a while, but the concussion is no longer life-threatening. I told them what had happened…when we….when he was gone for those few moments. They said that they expected him to be dead with those kind of injuries…but that…whatever I did on instinct when I was desperate….it healed him enough for them to be able to treat him." He whispered to her, keeping in mind that there were other patients in this intensive wing of the hospital.

"Will he need to be here long?" Frankie asked Heath, trying to process what he had told her.

"They said that he needs to have a blood transfusion from the amount that he lost. He was right in making sure we kept him awake all night – if the pressure in his head didn't get him, the blood loss would have…"he trailed off, with Frankie noticing how guilty he looked as they both understood why he had lost more blood.

"So after that, they can put him on medication for the head injury? What about his chest?" she asked, crossing her arms and shifting her weight as she stood fidgeting. Heath nodded, motioning her to follow him.

"Yeah," he said. "I'd have come out and told everybody this…but no more than two people can visit him at a time while he's in here…and I don't know how to tell them." They stopped next to one room and Heath went inside, Frankie following. "Jackson sure does know how to get himself into trouble though…"he said, "but it looks like they don't need to do anything for his ribs. They're bruised and should be able to heal on their own so long as he doesn't move around too much."

Frankie sat in the one chair in the room, looking at Jackson sleeping and connected to various things with wires and IV drip. Heath continued informing Frankie, saying "If all goes according to what the doctors say, they plan on moving him in about two hours out of this unit and into one less monitored. He might be able to leave tomorrow, or later today if he's doing much better and can rest back at the cabin…." He paused, looking directly at Frankie before asking curiously, "Think we're still going to stay for the next couple of days?"

Frankie shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'd guess so. Starting school on Monday will be difficult after all this." She said, thinking about how she had originally thought that they would have so much to talk about once they got back. _Well we certainly do_, she thought_, just not exactly the sort of stuff we had planned on._

"We should get back to the others soon. Shouldn't leave them hangin'" Heath said after about five minutes of just sitting there. Frankie nodded, and the two of them sat there for a few more minutes. "He probably won't wake up anytime soon, Frankie…they've got him on all sorts of medication." Heath said, trying to help encourage her to head back out to the others. Sighing, she got up and followed Heath back down the hall to the waiting area.

They were bombarded by questions as soon as they walked back out, Heath answering them in as short of a response as possible, telling them that he needed to call his parents so they could let Jackson's parents know what was going on. As he did that, Abbey right by his side, Draculaura finally spoke up about her discomfort. "Would you like us to get you something from the cabin to change into? My dad is already there putting things together to clean up…" she said, looking Frankie only in the face.

"Oh, Draculaura! I completely forgot about this making you uncomfortable. I'm so sorry. Sure. Could you go back and get me something else please, I'll go wash the rest of…Jackson's…blood…off of me." She said, Ghoulia coming to her aide as her hands started to shake when she realized she was still covered in his dried blood. Cleo also walked with her to the restroom to help her, leaving the others standing there.

"I'd like to get out of these clothes too." Clawdeen said, motioning to her dirtied and ripped clothes. "I can come with you to help, if Clawd can come help me out." She said, sounding a little frustrated with needing to be helped. In actuality, they both knew that they didn't really want to split up too soon, both taking comfort in the other's presence more than they would admit to later. Clawd nodded and Deuce went back to sitting in the waiting area after they said their goodbyes. Heath came back over with Abbey after his lengthy phone call, the girls still in the restroom.

"You okay dude?" he asked Heath, who was rubbing his face after returning the phone he had borrowed again.

"My parents are gonna let my aunt and uncle know what's up…" Heath said. "Where are the others?" he asked. Deuce pointed in the direction of the restroom and Heath made a silent 'oh' with his mouth. After a minute of just silently sitting there, Abbey broke the silence. "Who else is hungry?"

Heath let out a sharp laugh at his girlfriend's question. Deuce also smiled, knowing for sure the reason behind her question, other than the real hunger she had from not really eating since the day before. Deuce and the others who had stayed behind had managed to get in something resembling a meal after their ordeal and again this morning before heading out, but he too was getting hungry.

"Alright. How 'bout I go check out what they got for food around here?" Deuce said, leaning forward in his seat to get Heath's attention. Heath shook his head before answering, "Sounds good. I'm starving."

"Am shocked" Abbey joked with him. Cleo, Ghoulia and Frankie returned from the bathroom to see the three of them smiling at one another.

"What happened here?" Cleo asked.

"I'm gonna check out the creepateria here. Anyone else want to come with me and Abbey…oh, and Heath too." Deuce said. Frankie looked to Heath, before asking, "They won't be moving him for a little while, right? We can grab something quick?" Heath nodded and they all made their way down to the creepateria, grabbing a quick snack before returning to Jackson's floor. Heath walked back to where Jackson was resting, as Draculaura, Clawdeen, and Clawd returned with new clothes for Frankie.

* * *

While she was changing in the bathroom, Heath came back out to let them know that Jackson was being brought to a different floor. He was still under heavy observation until he woke up, but didn't need to be in the intensive area anymore, which Heath was grateful for. Ghoulia said she would wait for Frankie to finish up and let her know to meet them. "You guys don't have to stay here the whole day. I'll let you know how things are." Heath said.

"Are you sure? We care about Jackson too." Clawd said, although he looked like he could use some time to unwind from the recent chaos – they all did.

"I know. He knows too, I think….Really. It's okay. Go ahead and take care of yourselves. Jackson would get upset with me if he thinks that I made you all stay here…modest and all." Heath said, waving off their concern. The elevator tinged and Frankie and Ghoulia walked out and over to them, Frankie nearly knocking her zombie friend over in her haste.

"Oops, sorry Ghoulia…is he here yet?" Frankie asked Heath.

"They haven't told me yet." He said. Walking over to the nurses' station, he asked about if his cousin had been put in his room. She looked over a few things at her desk and found the information she was looking for, talking with Heath.

"We're going to head back to the cabin. See how things are; get some rest." Cleo said to Frankie. "We've all been shaken up and need to try and wind down. Do you want to come too? Heath said he would call." Frankie shook her head, as did Abbey.

"No. You go ahead. We will be staying here." Abbey said. They all looked torn about leaving, but they knew that siting around wasn't best to help cope. "Alright…if you're sure Heath, then we're gonna head out." Clawd said as their friend walked back over.

"We'll probably just stay at the cabin, but we'll leave a note if we go anywhere else for any reason." Cleo said to them. Ghoulia moaned that they could hold onto her phone charger she had in her pocket, since none of the three of them had a charged and working phone.

"Thanks Ghoulia." Frankie said, taking the charger from her friend. The zombie moaned that she had borrowed Frankie's own charger earlier and it had saved her, so it was the least she could do. At Frankie's confused face, she moaned that she would explain in more detail later.

"Yeah, go ahead guys. We'll catch up with you later." Heath said, and waved goodbye as the others piled into the elevator to make their way back to the resort.

"Did you find out his room?" Frankie asked, turning to Heath. She smoothed out her new yellow dress that she had gotten while shopping with the girls the other day. She knew exactly why Clawdeen and Draculaura had picked this one, and she fiddled nervously with it.

"This way. He's at the end of the hall." Heath said, guiding the girls over to Jackson's room with a wave of his hand. Once there, they settled into the chairs that were in his room, fortunate to each have one. "The normie doctors aren't hanging around for too much longer, just until he wakes up and they can check him over once more – to see whether or not he should stay in the hospital overnight."

The girls nodded, Frankie laying a hand on the bed next to Jackson's. They sat in silence for a few hours, flipping through the channels on the television in his room. They were glad that he had been placed in a private room, no doubt to help manage what came in and out by way of medicine.

"Do you think if he changed to Holt, he would heal faster?" Abbey asked offhandedly. Heath thought about it, before Frankie answered, "I've got to imagine that physically transforming from one person, into another would be physically stressful…Holt isn't exactly still either. He might pull his stiches before his enhanced healing could do him any good."

Heath nodded. "Yeah…Holt probably wouldn't take waking up like this too well. I know Jackson gets pretty angry when Holt does something and transforms back to leave him to deal with it." He laughed. "The tattoo and piercing were laughable, him thinking he'd stayed awake long enough studying to not remember wandering in to get those things done….I believed it too. But, there are also times like when Holt took a swing at a monster with some tough scales."

"Oh no. Why would he do that?" Abbey asked, Frankie already coming to the conclusion that his anger management issues had something to do with it. Heath only confirmed it, "I'm not entirely sure what got him so riled up, but he left Jackson to spend about a week or two as a lefty afterward as his hand healed. He didn't really let Holt out often enough for it to heal at the speed a Hyde can manage."

Abbey shook her head, chuckling a little. "Still, is hard to understand how these boys work." Heath had to agree with her on that. After watching the end of another mindless show twenty minutes later, Heath's bottomless hunger showed up again.

"You want to stay here? I can go get food from creepateria; will be quick." Abbey suggested, looking between Heath and Frankie. Frankie nodded and smiled her thanks, Abbey making her way out for another snack run. Heath had been drowsy just sitting there, as had Abbey and Frankie, wishing Jackson would wake up soon. It had been nearly four hours, but they all knew how tired they were. It had been Heath's turn to charge his phone, and it was plugged into the wall by the small table next to the bed. It went off and he swung his legs off the bed quickly to go answer it.

"Oh, man." He said, looking at the name on the screen. "That's my uncle…don't know which side of him I'm gonna get, but I can guess." Frankie gave him a sympathetic wince, knowing that dealing with Mr. Hyde was probably daunting, even when family. Heath grimaced and answered, walking out into the hallway.

Jackson took that moment to start to wake up, listening as Frankie turned up the tv a little. Music began to suddenly start blaring from the movie she had on, and he heard her scramble to turn it down. "Phew…that was close. Almost had Holt out." He heard her say.

"Not loud enough…wrong time signature too." He mumbled, turning to look at her."S'not like Clawdeen's ringtone."

Frankie was startled enough to start sparking, an unfortunate response when seated next to the equipment. Jumping out of her seat, a spark made it way from her arm and carried into one of the machines, causing it to turn off and start smoking.

"Oh! Oh no!" she exclaimed, not finding it as amusing as Jackson who had shielded his face and was laughing into the pillow.

* * *

Abbey had returned with a couple of half sandwiches for Heath and Frankie when she spotted Heath talking on the phone. "Yes. I'll call you as soon as he's out, I promise. I'm not gonna leave his side." She heard him say. "Bye Uncle Hyde" Heath said, finishing up the call and taking one of the sandwiches from out of Abbey's hand.

"Difficult conversation?" She asked sympathetically, knowing that if he had said Uncle Hyde, it must not have been easy based on conversations she had tried to have with Holt those few times. Heath nodded, munching away. "He's not pleased with his other half for going away and letting Jackson go on the trip now…my aunt is gonna have a long plane ride home. But, I think they're as okay as expected for now, so long as I keep 'em updated."

They heard a commotion going on at the other end of the hall, nurses rushing in. Abbey asked the nurses' station what was going on, hoping it wasn't Jackson's room. The nurse took in the yeti's appearance and understood that her kind of monster required some adequate answer before they would move on, removing the option of just brushing her aside. She responded, "That alarm means one of the monitors isn't picking anything up from a patient. I'm sure it's being handled, but I can't tell you anything else if you aren't family."

"Well, I have family on this floor. Which room?" Heath said, tossing his sandwich back into the container. The nurse answered and the two of them gave long-suffering looks to one another, both feeling like this has been happening too many times for them to handle. Making their way over to Jackson's room, they found a couple of nurses standing next to one of the monitors, trying to get it to stop smoking. Frankie was standing on the other side of Jackson, next to the IV drip, gesturing wildly as she apologized profusely.

"No, Frankie…it's okay. It was an accident. You need to calm down before you send any more shocks my way." Jackson was saying, coughing a little at the smoke that had been directed his way.

"What is happening here?" Abbey asked, mouth wide at the spectacle. Frankie turned to them, "He woke up and startled me and I zapped the monitor by accident when I bumped into it…and I fried some wires in it somewhere and it just keeps smoking…ooh, I'm sorry Jackson." She rambled on.

"It's fine, miss. We thought he might have flat-lined when the monitor cut out." One of the nurses said, finally getting it to stop billowing smoke. "We're just gonna wheel this one out and get another." He said, both of them making their way out the door, Heath backing up against the wall to allow them to pass.

"Clawdeen's right. There's too much drama. I thought the worst…"Heath said, sighing and going back to his sandwich. Jackson looked at him, amused at his ability to return to focusing on food no matter his emotional range he reached. "Good to know that you're appetite isn't affected at least." He said, sitting up a little.

Heath smiled at him as he polished off what was left of his sandwich. Frankie was still agitated, but offered the chair next to her to Abbey, pushing it to her. In her state, her clumsiness seemed to reach its highest level, knocking the chair into the IV pole. Going to catch it, she moved it a little too much and the IV no longer was connected to Jackson.

"Ow… Frankie…" Jackson grimaced as the needle came out. Noticing what she did, she let go of the pole. Abbey made a quick dive to keep it from falling over completely and put it upright.

"Oh! Jackson! I'm so sorry. I'm just making things worse." She said, wringing her hands together. At this point, Heath wasn't even bothering to try and mask his laughter. Jackson was doing his best not to cry out again, grabbing at his arm while trying to console Frankie. The nurses came back in and started to set things up again, including reattaching the IV. Once all of that was over, Heath, Abbey and Frankie returned to their seats.

"How are you feeling now Jackson?" Abbey asked, handing off the sandwich she had to a still very embarrassed Frankie.

"Much better thanks. I don't really remember much between the drugs they gave me on the helicopter and now, but it's working wonders." He said, rubbing at his stitches. Abbey put a hand over his to stop him, getting the message across without words. He sheepishly smiled, defending himself, "Hey, it's itchy. Besides, I just want to check it out. I'm going to get called out for copying your look Frankie." He tried to joke with her, to get her to ease up on herself. Frankie just dropped her head into her hands before sagging back into her chair.

"Ha ha. This is a signature look. I don't think you could pull it off." She said, smiling at him as she broke into her sandwich. Abbey and Heath were also in a better mood and they chatted contently for a little longer.

"Any ideas on how long they want to keep me here Heath?" Jackson eventually asked his cousin. Heath told him all he had been told earlier, saying that they needed one of the human doctors to check him out again. "They must have taken a break to go get lunch too. One of them should be back soon. Maybe I can convince them I can rest up back at the cabin now that my side's not gushing blood anymore."

"I'm not so sure that's such a good idea. I mean, you've had it pretty rough. Maybe you should just stay here and rest…just in case your bad luck hits in again and I'm not around to save your skinny self." Heath said, doing his best to mix his concern with his usual bravado. Jackson, however, wasn't having any of that.

"I'm past the dangerous stuff. Whatever you did was enough to pull me through to get the stuff from here that I needed. Besides, what's the difference between sleeping here and sleeping back at the cabin? I'm going to be flat on my back either way." He said, doing his best to get his cousin to side with him in the argument he was sure he would have with the doctor as soon as he came back. Heath just groaned, knowing that Jackson would be clever enough to convince the doctor to let him go.

"I'll stay with him, Heath. You and Abbey can relax." Frankie offered, also knowing how stubborn Jackson could get – a trait he would swear he didn't share with Holt until he turned blue in the face, without transforming.

"Nobody needs to stay with me. I'm sure you've had enough of me for a while." Jackson said, rolling his eyes despite hoping that Franke really would stay. Frankie, having pulled herself together since her earlier incident, playfully swatted him.

* * *

Shortly after, as predicated, a doctor came in and Jackson managed to convince him that he would be able to get all the rest he needed outside of the hospital. The doctor had been wary about releasing him with a head injury still needing to be monitored, but found in the presence of these monsters that if they said they were capable, then he would rather believe them than get them riled up. The paperwork and medication was filled out as Jackson changed into the clothes Clawd had thought to bring for him when they had gone back to cabin earlier.

"Remind me to thank Clawd when we get back for his foresight. Otherwise I might be going back in just my shorts…you look nice in that dress by the way. I should have said it earlier…"he said, blushing as she helped him with getting the shirt over his head.

"Thanks…I thought it was nice color on me…I'm glad you like it." She said, blushing as well. "You're sure this is the best idea? Even the doctor was hesitant to release you with your head still the way it is. And those stitches could get infected again…."

Jackson grabbed her hands as she had been looking over the cut on his head. Looking at her, he said, "The fever is gone and as long as I take the medication, I'll be fine. Plus, I trust you when you say you'll stay with me. You've taken good care of me so far…and I'm including the times you've helped Holt and I get along. So let's get going, so you can get some real rest too." Frankie was touched by his faith in her, trusting her to look out for him as he did.

"Well, you've played super agent all this vacation, what with disabling that bomb and grounding the plane. I suppose it's okay for me to worry a little bit…" she said, pinching her fingers together to indicate a small amount.

"Ha," laughed Jackson. "Heath was right about all that stuff he said to me on the hill though…y'know, before…" he said, focusing on Frankie and not on Heath and Abbey who had hung back in the doorway with his release papers and bags of medication. Abbey looked to Frankie to encourage Jackson to let it out, keeping Heath quiet in her hopes that they could work this out. The girls had had time earlier to talk things over with each other to understand why they said what they did and to move beyond it. Heath and Jackson hadn't had the same opportunity with Jackson only being semiconscious for most of their adventure.

"You know he didn't mean any of what he said. We all didn't." she said to him, sitting next to him on the bed.

"I was only able to decrease the force of the explosion with that bomb's chemicals…it still went off and I had no idea how bad it might get but didn't say anything to the others. I just had Deuce turn a flimsy wall into stone with the guess that the explosion wouldn't be too big to have the stone make any difference…" Jackson sighed. "And I did crash the plane…there's no getting around that."

"You knew we were going down anyway. None of this is any of our faults. You and Heath worked together, we all did, to take care of ourselves. Jackson…" she gently guided his head to look at her, "what you did was heroic. Don't think badly about yourself at all. I won't have it…you may be injured…but I'll…I'll still smack you if I have to." She threatened, earning a small smile from him.

"She's right." Heath spoke up, causing Jackson to start and twist around to face him, immediately wincing at the pull on his stitches. "Sorry…but she's right about being heroic, and that she'll probably smack you." Heath continued.

Frankie got up to let the boys talk thing out, walking out of the room to stand in the hall with Abbey. "This is good for them. Let them be having moment." Abbey said, to which Frankie nodded and chuckled. After a few minutes, they all made their way out of the hospital to take a cab ride back to the hotel. It was slow-going, but they were at the cabin in under an hour, much to the four's relief.

Cleo and Deuce were on the couch cuddling, similar to Clawd and Draculaura who were fast asleep next to them. Cleo looked as though she was nodding off too, or just waking up, when she noticed them walk in. Letting Deuce sleep, his glasses falling off his face from moving around in his sleep, she got up and made her way over to help them with Jackson.

"What are you guys doing back so soon? I thought you were supposed to be in the hospital until tomorrow at least." She said, clearing the way to Heath and Jackson's room. There had been a cleanup team that worked on the damage done to the building, but there had been some stuff left behind. The two cousins made their way into the room and shut the door. Cleo turned to Abbey and Frankie for an answer before remembering to remind them, "Oh, your room is really messed up. The attackers came through the false wall in your room, trashing it in the process. Ghoulia and I tried to clean things up a bit, but there's still a mess. Sorry ghouls."

Frankie and Abbey walked into what was their room, seeing the mess Cleo was talking about. Frankie picked up one of her travel charges for a quick jolt off of the floor. "Oh, so that's what Ghoulia was talking about." She said, noticing that it was empty. Cleo nodded. "Yeah. She was in here when they broke through. She used that to fight back and then jumped through the window they broke." She said, nodding towards the boarded up window.

"Where is Ghoulia now? Clawdeen?" Abbey asked, picking some of her things off the floor and organizing them.

"They're both asleep. Ghoulia's in my room since Draculaura's dad is going to be staying here with us. Clawdeen's in her room. I don't know if you two want to stay in this room with that opening in the wall…the well was sealed over tight, but still…"

Frankie cut her off. "We can camp out on the couches in the living room. It'll be an improvement over sleeping on rocks."

"Was not so uncomfortable." Abbey commented, finding a complete outfit and gathering up her clothes to go change. Cleo and Frankie just shook their heads at their friend's notions of comfortable. Cleo yawned before asking again about Jackson.

"He convinced the doctor to let him rest here – something about how he knew what he was doing, having scientists as parents." Frankie said, working with Cleo to clean up a little more of the mess.

"We were thinking about heading to the restaurant in the main building for dinner. Just some quiet dinner, but to get away from all this. Do you want to come?" Cleo asked.

"No. I'm gonna stay with Jackson. Heath and Abbey might come, if you can get Heath to leave his cousin after what happened…but I think they may have settled thing at the hospital." Frankie said. Cleo folded her arms and sat on the bed, indicating to Frankie to continue.

"I don't know what they said to each other, but they talked about what they said to each other during the storm that led to Heath….losing control." Frankie said. Cleo's mouth formed an 'o' and she didn't press the matter further. As much as she enjoyed getting all the details like Draculaura did, she wasn't so insensitive to continue the conversation now.

"Well, I think all of us getting some sleep before we decide to do anything, is a good idea. If you need anything, just ask." Cleo said, displaying her rare instances of altruism. Frankie nodded, smiling her thanks as Abbey walked back in with clean clothes on.

"Deuce is looking for you. He panic when he saw you not next to him. I told him you would be out soon." Abbey said, plopping down on her bed. Cleo shrugged and headed out, not asking Abbey again if she was comfortable being in that room. Clearly it took more to frighten her, especially after all that they had been through. Frankie followed Cleo out and walked over to Heath and Jackson's room, knocking on the door. When she didn't get a response she cracked it open a little, peeking inside. Heath and Jackson were both lying on their beds, sound asleep. Shutting the door again, she made her way over to one of the chairs and got herself comfortable, drifting off to sleep.

* * *

It was late in the evening when they were all up, excluding Jackson, and ready for dinner. Frankie and Jackson were the only ones who were going to remain at the cabin, ordering food to the cabin instead. The others waited with Frankie, Count Dracula paying for the pizza and drinks, before heading out. It had taken some convincing, but Heath agreed to go out to try and feel better, on the condition that Frankie call him if anything happened, not wanting to have to deal with an angry uncle again. Waving goodbye, Frankie had seen them off with her typical smile.

The others arrived at the main building and made their way to the restaurant to try and get a large enough table. They talked about anything else and slowly they fell back into their usual rhythm after a while. They were able to actually enjoy the little performance that was echoing down from the stage across from the dining area. As they were waiting, Draculaura gently pulled Clawdeen aside to talk to her.

"So…about that call from Thad…" Draculaura began, but Clawdeen cut her off.

"Seriously? After everything that's happened, you're gonna bring that up now? It wasn't even him, just those crazy mummies who hacked into my phone to send out the signal that crashed our plane!" she exclaimed, voice raising a little as she talked.

Draculaura held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I know. I know. I called him to check on things." She said. Clawdeen leaned back out of Draculaura's personal space as she processed this information. Draculaura took this as a good sign from her best friend, hurrying to continue her explanation. "Yeah. He was the one who called my dad to let him know something was up…He actually came with him…" she trailed off, folding her hands and smiling at her friend.

Clawdeen knew where her friend was going with this. "No. You didn't try to set something up, did you?" she asked, dreading the answer. Draculaura shook her head. "No I didn't. I know you don't really appreciate when I do that so I try not to anymore…as much….Anyway, he's the one who asked me to just walk you over here so he could ask you himself." She said, turning her friend around to see the vampire approach with a small bouquet of flowers.

"Hi Clawdeen." Thad said. "I know we didn't really get to know each other very well the few times we went out, but I'd like to give it another try…think of it as just for tonight." He said, extending the small bouquet. "We can take it from there if you want."

Clawdeen smiled and took the flowers, giving them a sniff. "I think that sounds reasonable, considering we have you to thank for the rescue I heard." She said, taking his arm. Thad blushed a little, and the two walked away down the hall to where he had set up their date. Draculaura waited for them to be out of sight before she let out an excited squeal.

"I heard that!" Clawdeen shouted out, making Draculaura laugh as she walked back to the group. Attaching herself to Clawd's arm, she let out a happy sigh.

"What was that about?" Clawd asked as they walked to their table. Draculaura just waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "It was nothing. Clawdeen won't be joining us for dinner; she has a date." Draculaura said, unable to keep the huge grin off her face at her success at playing matchmaker for her friend. Her father just rolled his eyes at his daughter's antics. They sat down and began to look at the menu.

"Man, I could probably go for two of everything…"Heath said as they looked through things. Abbey laughed at her boyfriend. "Only two?" she asked, earning a collective chuckle at Heath's expense, each glad that everyone was back together.

* * *

Frankie had a few slices of pizza before heading in to check on Jackson. Getting on top of the bed beside him, she got as close to his uninjured side as possible without actually touching him. After briefly watching something on her phone, she decided to give in to what she had intended to do and snuggled up against him. Laying her head on his chest as he slept, she took comfort in his presence, being lulled to sleep by his heartbeat. She had almost fallen asleep when he stirred, noticing her next to him.

"Sorry…"she said, blushing a little at their position she had gotten them in as he had slept. Jackson just wrapped his left arm around her. "It's fine. I don't mind at all..." he said, smiling at her. She smiled back at him. "Oh! I'm not hurting you, am I?" she said. Jackson shook his head, taking in a deep breath as he woke up more.

"No. I'm just sort of surprised to find you here. Where's everybody else?" he asked. Frankie laid her head back down on his chest.

"They decided to go out to dinner to try and get their mind off of things." She said. "But I told you I'd stay with you back at the hospital, so here I am. And it took a lot of arguing with Heath to get him to take Abbey out."

"Thanks Frankie. You could have gone. I'd have called if I needed anything." Jackson said. Frankie shook her head. "No. I wanted to be here for you." Jackson sighed, knowing that Frankie was still very upset over what had happened out in the woods with him.

"Do you want to talk about what happened, Frankie? I promise I'm not going anywhere…"he said, attempting to prompt her to talk.

"What's to talk about? You were there…you were the one that got hurt." She said, taking in a deep breath to keep herself from getting overly emotional, refusing to look up at him. Jackson ran his hand up and down her back to comfort her. They lay that way for a while before Jackson spoke again.

"It's already night?" he asked, trying to determine if there was any natural light from behind the blinds from his spot on the bed. At her nod, he continued, "Sorry you don't get to spend it with Holt – I know that's been the trend for this vacation, except for last night." Frankie thought about asking, but decided against it until Jackson was feeling better. "It's okay. I can talk to him later once you're better."

Jackson fumbled around for something on his right side. "No…you should get to talk to him. Hmm…I don't get to do this to him very often…" he said, confusing Frankie.

"What are you talking about?" she said, opening her eyes to look at him again. Belatedly, she realized he must have had his phone near him if he had planned to call – it was probably the only way to get Heath out of the cabin for the evening. "No…don't…" she said, reaching over him to grab the phone before he could play any loud music. He held it out to his side though, out of her reach, so she tried to climb over him without hurting him by essentially straddling him. But, she wasn't quick enough and in a flash the music started playing at full volume and she was looking down at Holt. His usual noisy exclamation of some kind as he turned was cut off as she could see the pain assault him as he came into awareness.

"Aww, yo! This is not cool. The Holtster does not roll this…way…" he said, finally opening his eyes to see Frankie straddling him. Arching an eyebrow, he asked, "Hello…What am I missin' here? This isn't somethin' I'd object to wakin' up to, but I'd like to know what is a goin' on!" He tried to shout out in his typical manner of speaking, but clearly that was not agreeing with his head. Wincing, he tried to sit up, but Frankie used her position to push his back down on the bed.

"Frankieee…you gotta be gentle. Aww….man…gah!" he said, beginning to breathe heavily as he tried to comprehend what he had woken up to.

"Don't move! Just stay still, okay?" Frankie said, keeping her hands pressed on to his shoulders to keep him from trying anything else. "Please just listen to me, okay? I'll explain everything."

"Go ahead. But I gotta warn ya'. I ain't one for staying in one place still for too long." Holt said, resigning himself, it seemed, to momentarily have to remain still. Frankie sighed at that. "Yes Holt, I know. Trust me, I know…but you're going to make things worse for yourself if you don't stay still and just rest."

"Frankieeee" Holt whined again, to which Frankie placed a finger over his lips to keep him quiet. Huffing, Holt stayed quiet.

"Jackson thought it would be a good thing if I got to talk with you…it's been nearly two days since I got to see you. And with all that's been going on…I wasn't too sure I'd get to see you ever again. So he was right to let you out even if I asked him not to just yet." She rambled as she tried to figure out how to begin, starting to tear up.

"Hey, hey. C'mon now. Just talk to me Frankie-Fine. What happened?" Holt said, displaying his concern. Frankie trusted him not to move at this point and moved away from straddling him, choosing to sit next to him as he lay propped up on the bed. "Jackson doesn't normally do something to get him into this shape when I wake up…that's more my job. Sharin' one body can really be difficult at times…"

Frankie nodded, launching into all that had happened since they had spent their last night together, from deciding on the plane tour, to crashing and spending the night, to how the others had managed to sort things out while staying on the run from their attackers and searching for them.

"It's been a rough couple of days. But it could have been so much worse…it was terrible. I'm just so glad I'm able to talk to you now." Frankie said, unable to restrain herself any longer and embracing Holt around the middle as tightly as she could while keeping in mind his injuries.

"Aw, Frankie. I'm lucky to have such a caring ghoul lookin' out for me. This makes twice you've saved me from somethin' unpleasant, countin' that 'trick-or-treatment' thing." Holt said, returning the hug. Frankie looked up at him as he comforted her. "But I ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon with such a fine lady to…." He unknowingly began to echo Jackson's earlier statement, only to be cut off as Frankie placed a passionate kiss on his lips, deepening it as they continued. Holt responded in kind, until he reluctantly pushed her away.

"Sorry Ms. Fine…the Holtster is all for this, been waiting a _long_ time in Hyde terms…but I need to catch my breath. Jackson did a number on me." He said, disappointment marking both their faces as they had to cut their make-out session short.

"No, no. it's okay. I'm sorry. I'm the one who told you not to do anything and then I did that…I just…am glad that you are here. As much as you seem to deny it, a potentially fatal injury to Jackson means a potentially fatal injury to you too dummy. I…you…as Jackson, you were in my arms one minute and then in the next…" she said, resuming her position of lying next to him as she had done for Jackson.

"Yeah…I'm feelin' it today. He didn't let me out just to get payback did he?" Holt asked. "He knows I tend to heal faster than him." Holt laid his head back onto the pillow as he said this, checking the phone.

Frankie chuckled. "He did say something about not getting to do this very often…but I think he did it more so that I could talk to you about what had happened. I seem to just, let things out easier with you. Plus, he kinda felt bad about you not getting to spend an equal amount of time out on vacation with me. That was very sweet of him." She sighed, snuggling back into his chest. She knew that her wording might lead him to getting all worked up and jealous – with himself, no less – but she took a guilty pleasure in knowing that it was all for her.

As expected, Holt had a response ready. "Hey. Don't you think I'm sweet too? I'm always here for ya', sorta…about ten more minutes maybe before the playlist on this phone ends."

"I don't want to sound mean, but do you think you could let it stop?" Frankie asked, worried that she might offend him.

"Nah. I get it. Besides, I can't do still for too long, even if it's with you by my side." Holt said, hugging her closer. Frankie smiled. "That, and the music is not playing nice with my head today…" Holt added, rubbing his head with his right hand.

"Yeah…who'd have thought there'd be such a thing as 'too loud' for Holt Hyde?" Frankie teased. Holt grimaced at that. "But we'll blame the head injury. This has nothing to do with your personality."

"Absolutely" Holt agreed. It looked as though he wanted to say more, but Frankie interrupted. "Do you think we could just lay quiet, listen to the music for a while?" Holt sighed but gave a slight nod.

"Oh man, you want it all – still and quiet. Sheesh! Not sure how quiet you expect me to be Frankie-Fine, but if it's for you…" he shrugged as best as he could, wincing a little as he pulled again at his stitches. Frankie sympathized with him, giving him a soft look at him trying to deal with having to behave in almost every way contradictory to his nature. Laying her head back down, they stayed that way for the next ten minutes until the music ended and she felt him begin to writhe as his transformation began to occur back into Jackson. Lifting her head and trying to give him space, she waited until Jackson was completely back to check on him. Like Holt had done, he was breathing heavily as he became more aware of himself and his surroundings.

"Huh…I'm still in bed. I thought for sure he would have tried to get up." Jackson said, closing his eyes as his head pounded. "Ugh…did he pull at the stitches?"

Frankie bit her lip. "Well, he did try to get up but I managed to convince him to stay still. He may have pulled at the stitches though since he kinda…panicked a little, but don't tell him I said that." She said, coming back to sit next to him.

"No promises…uh oh…" he said. Frankie's eyes widened, concerned that he _had_ pulled the stitches out completely and she hadn't noticed.

"What? What is it?" Frankie said. Jackson didn't say anything. Instead, he sat up abruptly and fell off the bed more than he stood up off of it, steadying himself with the table that was between his bed and Heath's. "Jackson, tell me what's wrong!" Frankie shouted.

"I'm gonna…" Jackson started, covering his mouth with one hand. That was all Frankie needed to understand the problem, coming over to help him get to the bathroom. He shut the door on her, but she stayed close by until he was finished, just in case. Coming back out after cleaning up a little, including brushing his teeth as the toothpaste on his face displayed to Frankie, they made their way back to the couch in the common area.

"Any better?" Frankie asked, walking over to the kitchen to get him a slice of pizza and some water. It wasn't the best thing for him recovering, but she reasoned he needed something.

"Yeah. I think that was just from moving around too much. It could have been worse if he hadn't stayed still. What did you do to keep him still?" Jackson asked as he took the pizza from Frankie. "On second thought, do I wanna know?" He asked as he took a drink of water.

Frankie smirked at him and leaned over the side of the couch to get closer to him. "Well, there were other things he could do while lying in bed…."

Jackson coughed as the water nearly came out of his nose at what she said. "What? He didn't...you didn't…what?" he stuttered out, Frankie unable to control her giggles at his reaction. Before he could actually get too worked up, she stood back up straight to walk over and sit next to him.

"Relax…we just talked. And you were right about me needing to talk to him. I feel a little better." She said as Jackson recovered. "But, he wasn't so good at the just listening thing. I had to repeatedly tell him not to move around – he wasn't too thrilled with the payback you sent him by waking him up like this either." She said as Jackson ate, grabbing the remote to turn the television back on for them to find something to watch.

Jackson just shrugged. "That's Holt, I guess. He's more of the doer, trying to find something else to make him _feel_ better. But if he helped, then that's good. Sorry, I wasn't much help…like this." He said, taking the pills that Frankie had also brought over.

"Holt may like to do something to feel better, but I like how you listen and give me feedback, putting my mind at ease." She said. "All of you is wonderful, and as soon as you're able to, _I'd_ like to take _you_ out on a date. That sound good for you?"

Jackson looked as though if he smiled any wider, his face might split. "That sounds great." He said, leaning back into the couch. "Assuming our parents let us out ever again." They both smiled at that, leaning into one another as they watched some random movie. Frankie resumed her place against Jackson's side, aware that Jackson knew it was more for her to reassure herself that he really was still here. She could hear his heartbeat, and thought back to how cuddling with Holt – more monster than normie between the two of them – they shared the same heartbeat. It was a sound she knew she wouldn't be taking for granted any time soon.

"Hey. You said something about new abilities back on that hill." Frankie said. "Think you're up for a demonstration?"

Jackson gave her a small smile before closing his eyes in concentration. Lifting his right hand, he concentrated on everything that Heath had been telling him, calling forth a flame in this hand that he managed to sustain for several seconds. Extinguishing it, he felt rather pleased with his success, and the reaction that Frankie had given him.

"Wow. I'm impressed." She beamed at him, sharing in his success. "That's nearly the same as when Heath does it."

"Yeah. He suggested a few things to help, since I have to focus harder than Holt probably does….not that he really focuses too heavily on anything." Jackson said, rubbing his head. "I haven't really told my parents yet either, but a conversation that was supposedly hypothetical with my mom about this might have clued her in when I had that cold…man, that seems forever ago."

Frankie nodded in agreement. "Yeah…but, I'm curious. What are you supposed to focus on?" she asked. Jackson blushed a little before responding. "Heath said to concentrate on the warmth that comes from the core that every elemental has that allows them to channel their element and to create more of whatever it is…"he said, scratching his head. "Since I'm only half elemental, he suggested I think of something or someone to help find that warmth and build on it…and I…think of you." He finished, voice getting a little quieter as he spoke.

"Aww…that's so sweet." Frankie said, touched by how much she meant to him. "You're a wonderful guy, y'know that?"

Jackson laughed. "Well, after all this, you might begin to think I'm boring. No more super agent stuff." Frankie laughed at Jackson's comment. "You? Boring? I don't think that's possible for either you or Holt. Besides, after all this, boring might not be so bad." Jackson had to agree with that, already ready to head back to bed but reluctant to move.

"By the way…what exactly is a 'super agent'?" Frankie asked. Jackson just shrugged as best he could. "I think that's just something Heath came up with, probably some mix of secret agent and super spy….I've learned it makes more sense to just roll with things like this than to spend time on trying to make sense of it." Frankie smiled at the thought, thinking that the two were closer than they probably even realized.

"Oh, what time is it?" Frankie asked. Jackson just pointed to his face, demonstrating the lack of glasses. "Oh, right. You're gonna have to get new ones once we get back home…but I can act as your…seeing-eye dog for the rest of the trip." She said, getting up to check the time on the clock in the kitchen.

"I'm not completely hopeless without them Frankie, but I appreciate the offer just the same." Jackson said. "Why do you need to check the time anyway?" he asked.

"Heath said he might call if they were going to be out late. But…I think we can just let ourselves relax for a while. They'll be back eventually." Frankie said, coming back to sit beside Jackson, who had let his head fall back and had his eyes closed. "You want to head back to the bed?" She asked.

"Not just yet…let's just enjoy the quiet while it lasts." He said, Frankie not wanting to argue with him on that point. They resumed cuddling, both of them falling asleep.

* * *

It turned out that the others had chosen to stay out late and enjoy themselves, with the exception of Heath and Abbey. Count Dracula had remained out with the others, but when Heath called and didn't get a response, he and Abbey came back.

"See. I told you they are fine, just sleeping." Abbey said, watching as Heath draped a blanket over the two of them to let them sleep. They both knew Jackson would be sore when he woke up, but they opted to let them remain asleep for however much longer it would be for the others to return. Sure enough, when the others arrived, they woke Frankie. _Thank goodness those are some strong pain pills_, Frankie thought as Jackson remained asleep.

The girls stayed up a little longer talking about their night out, Draculaura especially excited to tell her story about Thad and Clawdeen. She had clearly been set to launch into a long, drawn-out drama, but her father came back downstairs to remind them to get some sleep – much to Clawdeen's relief.

The next couple of days were meant to be spent simply relaxing as they had originally set out to do at the beginning of their adventure. The Count had remained close by, but it seemed that his many years of hiding in the shadows let them have at least the illusion of privacy. They had chosen to stick together for a while before eventually splitting up to do other things. Draculaura managed to get to see that movie she had hoped to watch with Clawd, with some effort of persuading her father to let them go alone – but that ability of his to hide in the shadows left her fairly sure that he had come along too, but she couldn't be positive. Even Clawdeen couldn't argue against the idea of splitting up as it was obviously made for the couples to spend time together. She had enjoyed her night with Thad and had taken him up on his offer of another date night.

On their last full day, it seemed like they had all unconsciously agreed to spend the day by the poolside. Even Jackson tagged along, his injuries healing faster than he had thought with the help of Holt's occasional appearances. But that didn't mean that he had stayed still again this time. There had been a bit of a panic when Frankie had left to get his medicine and come back to find he had taken off. He hadn't made it very far to wherever he had intended to go before Deuce found him and threatened to turn him to stone for a few hours if he couldn't stay still on his own.

But it seemed that Jackson was fine with lounging by the pool as the others swam around, Draculaura and her father sticking to the more shaded areas with him. Announcing he was going to get some ice cream, Dracula and Draculaura left Jackson to contemplate if he was able to at least dangle his legs in the pool. He dragged himself over and sat at the edge, happy with himself until he felt a hand on his shoulder and someone sit down next to him.

"I don't think it's a good idea to hop in, dude." The voice said, alerting Jackson immediately to who it was with the ever-present 'dude' attached.

"That's why I'm just sitting here. I was getting bored all by myself, but don't tell Frankie…"Jackson said, turning to look at his best friend, "She might feel like she has to come over and sit with me. I love that she's been spending so much time with me, but this is the first time she's been hanging out with the others while not attached to my side."

Deuce laughed. "I get it man. Cleo can be a little clingy sometimes too. And I'll admit I've been a little clingy after those guys nearly got to her." He said. "So try not to blame Frankie for that." Jackson nodded, about to protest that it was the last thing he was doing, but Deuce seemed to understand.

"She's just doing what she feels she has to…to make sure you're still here. Like I did with Cleo. It doesn't make much sense, but there's that nagging fear that I just imagined that things were better and have to just…check…every now and then." Deuce said, rubbing his arm as he awkwardly admitted that even he had been put on edge with all this.

Jackson processed what his friend had said. "So how are you guys, really? I was filled in at the hospital a little bit, but to be honest, I think I slept through most of what Heath said." He asked, splashing a little in the water with his legs.

"Nobody got really hurt, luckily. But Clawd took a pretty nasty hit to the back of the head when he got knocked out." Deuce said, shrugging.

"Ugh…know how that feels." Jackson said, Deuce grimacing as he realized what he had said.

"You sure you're really okay to be out here with us? We wouldn't be offended if you just rested at the cabin." Deuce said. "What I said about worrying about Cleo applies to you too. I may not have been there, but seeing you like I did in the forest was…upsetting…so, take it easy okay? And tell us if you need help."

"I have been, but it is possible for even me to get bored too. I'm not Holt, but I'd like to spend time with my friends. By the way, did he really try to sneak off?" Jackson asked, leaning back slightly onto his arms. He wouldn't admit it, but he was sorer than he had expected to be. He figured that Frankie's story of Holt scaring her with his antics might have set him back for a while. Deuce's nod confirmed his suspicions.

"Yeah. He got pretty far but not too far that I couldn't cut him off with a threat of being turned to stone...but Frankie telling him off was probably far worse than a couple of hours spent as stone." Deuce said, smirking as he recalled the other night. Jackson just shook his head.

"That explains why I'm sorer than expected." Jackson said, lowering himself all the way back so he was lying on the concrete, covering his face with his arms. His position got the attention of the others, particularly Frankie when Ghoulia pointed it out to her from the water.

"Dude. You okay?" Deuce asked as he leaned over his friend. Jackson gave a sigh and twisted to push himself up off the concrete. "Frankie looks like she's about to head over."

"Oh no. Think you could help me, then? I don't want to make her feel like she needs to leave the others." Jackson asked his friend, who nodded to his request. Slowly he eased his friend back up, steadying him as he pulled his legs out of the water. Jackson thanked him and tried to head back over to his chair on his own. Unfortunately, in his desperation to act independently again, he didn't take into account how slippery his wet feet would be on the concrete. He started to tip, but Deuce caught him before he could reach the ground, helping him over to his chair.

"Well that was fun. And Frankie is definitely coming over now." Deuce said, confirming what Jackson suspected even though he had yet to open his eyes as he caught his breath. Sure enough, he felt small, wet hands on his arm. He shivered involuntarily at how much colder her skin seemed on his warm skin from sitting out in the sun.

"What is it?" Frankie said as she felt him shiver, slight panic in her voice. Jackson opened his eyes to look at her, seeing Deuce standing behind her. _She must have shoved him out of the way_, Jackson thought.

"Noth…"Jackson started, but a look from Deuce made him reconsider. He had asked him to tell the others if anything was wrong, and Jackson knew he should listen. Sighing, he was honest with them. "Holt must have moved around too fast, too soon. I'm _incredibly_ sore and lightheaded. But I took my medicine and should be asleep soon anyway."

"Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling better?" Frankie asked. "C'mon. I'll head back to the cabin with you." She said, beginning to gather his and her stuff that was on the chairs. By now, the others had also started to pay attention to what was going on with their friends.

"No Frankie…it's okay. I'm just sore. The stitches aren't in danger of being ripped out and the concussion is much better. You don't have to take time away from your vacation." Jackson said, trying to halt her movements.

"Dude, just let her take care of you." Deuce whispered to him. Jackson shot him an exasperated look.

"Look, Frankie…can you just sit with me here for a while under the umbrella? I don't want to head back to the cabin just yet. And if I fall asleep, you'll go back over with the others? Deal?" he asked, hoping to reach some sort of compromise. Frankie stuffed the last of their stuff into a bag and paused, putting her hands on her hips as she turned to face him. He had to admit that she looked nice in her bathing suit, water dripping from her hair. Contemplating it, Frankie sighed and moved her chair closer to Jackson's before plopping down next to him. "Fine. But don't lie to me, okay?" she said, trying her best to ignore the almost-smug look on Jackson's face.

Jackson nodded and settled himself into a more comfortable position. Deuce chuckled, shaking his head as he made his way back over to the water. "Shout if you need anything guys!" he said before jumping in. Frankie scooted closer to Jackson as much as she could, grabbing a book from her bag. A chapter in, she looked over to find Jackson asleep. Looking back to her friends splashing around, she decided that this was just as relaxing a way to spend the day as if she had stayed in the pool. Reaching over to him, she held onto his wrist as she had seen Abbey do, finding herself comforted by his strong pulse. She knew he was fine, probably closer to recovery than if he hadn't had Heath's help or Holt's appearances. But still, she thought it might be a while for her to be sure that he wasn't going to disappear.

By lunchtime, the others were out of the pool and talking about where to get something to eat. Abbey walked over to her, noticing that she had yet to let go of Jackson's wrist as he slept on. "Hey. How are you doing?" she asked. Frankie shrugged, saying all that she needed to for her friend to understand. Abbey may be blunt with her words, but coming from a land where air is precious, she certainly understood body language. Patting her friend comfortingly, she suggested bringing something back from one of the stands near the pool for her.

"Thanks Abbey. Do you think you or one of the others could just sit here for a minute? I don't want to leave him alone while he's asleep, but I need to make a run to the bathroom." Frankie said, having to force herself to let go of Jackson. Abbey nodded, motioning to Heath as he stood talking with Clawd, Frankie already walking away. "Heath" Abbey called out quietly, trying to get his attention without waking Jackson. Getting no response from him, she resorted to shooting a small burst of cold air at his back, trying not to freeze the water that was on him. Heath jolted at the sudden cold and looked over in the direction it came from, mouth already open to shout out something. Seeing Abbey waving at him to come over, he broke away from the group as they headed out to grab lunch.

"Everything ok?" Heath asked as he jogged over. "Do we need to take him back to the cabin or something?" Abbey shook her head, putting a finger to her lips to signal him to be whisper. The pool area wasn't the quietest spot at the resort, but they could try to keep things as quiet as they could for him.

"No. Frankie just needed a quick break." Abbey said. Jackson gave a sigh in his sleep and both tensed, waiting for him to wake up. Heath noticed that Jackson's brow was crinkled, and it looked like he was having a rough time getting in a deep breath.

"Hey, I think he's having a nightmare. Maybe we should wake him." Heath said, looking to Abbey for her opinion. She looked conflicted over whether or not to do so, but ultimately gave a nod. Heath gently shook his cousin, encouraging him to wake up by calling out his name a few times. He had expected maybe a shocked reaction, but was not expecting his cousin to come out swinging. Pulling back just in time, Abbey was able to catch onto his arm and prevent him from any more flailing.

"Whoa! What was that?!" Heath asked Jackson as the two looked at each other with wide eyes. Jackson looked around as he caught his breath. "Sorry Heath. Bad dream. You just scared me…you can, uh, let go of me now Abbey." He said, turning to look at her. But she remained in the same position, only slightly easing up on her hold.

"Some men from my village wake up throwing the punches too when sick. Best to be sure you are calmed down, then Abbey will let go. Don't want you to hurt yourself, or Heath." She said, earning the same look from Jackson and Heath of irritation. But Heath had gotten better at accepting that Abbey was probably the stronger and more capable of the two, and overlooked the slight on his ability to defend himself.

"You can tell us about it. Might help." Heath said. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, as Jackson was still groggy from the medically-induced nap, and became more irritated. He struggled against Abbey's hold on him, huffing as he exerted himself.

"Jackson, stop." She said, resuming her earlier hold on him. Jackson wasn't listening to her though and kept it up, garnering a few strange looks from the other guests but they went back to their own businesses shortly after.

"No…Let. Go." Jackson said, but had sagged into her arms, her chilly atmosphere soothing his aching head. Still breathing heavily, he closed his eyes and tried to let the cold help him feel better. Heath, however, wasn't sure what to do, hoping that Frankie would return and work her magic to calm him down.

"What is problem? You tell us, and we can fix" Abbey said, again easing up on her hold. Jackson swallowed and nodded, easing himself with Abbey's help back into a more comfortable position. He looked from her arms to her face, silently asking to be let go, but she didn't budge without an answer.

"I had a nightmare about that argument that night…"Jackson sighed, "It was exactly the same except after…"he trailed off looking to Heath so as to avoid having to repeat what was painful for them both, "you didn't stop, nobody did. I panicked when I woke up and saw you so close. I wasn't sure what was the dream and where I was…I'm sorry, Heath. Sorry Abbey."

Heath looked as though Jackson really might have punched him. By this time Frankie had returned to see Jackson being held by Abbey and Heath standing a good deal away from them both. Concerned, she turned to Abbey for answers.

"Nightmare about argument on hill and fight with Heath. He take swing at him when woke up." Abbey said in clipped English, Jackson not meeting Frankie's eyes as she explained.

"But I thought you guys had talked it out?" Frankie said. "I thought everything was okay?" She asked, walking over to Heath who had his back turned to them.

"Does not mean nightmares not happen." Abbey said, finally releasing Jackson so that Frankie could come over if she wanted. Heath turned around at Frankie's touch, a look of grief on his face.

"I know I've not been the best at understanding you, 'cuz I thought it was lame to have a normie cousin. But you're not just my normie cousin…you've always managed to get around in the monster world and I thought that you were just trying to make yourself belong. I didn't start to get to know _you_ better just because you were gonna be at my school, or Deuce pressured me, or 'cuz I get Holt…

"What? You've always preferred to hang out with Holt – you even ask for him specifically, like that Halloween, even when I tell you how irresponsible he can be." Jackson interjected, confusion on his face.

"Ugh…yeah…but I thought you weren't, I dunno, _afraid_ of monsters. And now I've just messed this up too." Heath ranted, gesturing with his hands wildly as he tried to talk with his cousin. Giving him one more last look, Heath took off, brushing aside Frankie who had tried to get him to stay in the pool area.

"Go after him Abbey, please. Tell him he hasn't messed anything up, ok?" Jackson said, Abbey not waiting around for Heath to get too far out of her sight. Once they were both gone, Jackson sighed again and attempted to get up too.

"Wait. Just wait." Frankie said, upset with herself for not being here to help. "Explain what happened to me, please. Maybe we can work out how to help Heath and you." She said, sitting next to him. Jackson just held his head in his head as he sat hunched over.

"I told them what my nightmares have been about – what we said to each other and then when he hit me with that blast. That's all the same, but then it doesn't end…yes, I'm afraid, but I've always known that compared to monsters I'm fragile. But I'm not afraid of Heath." Jackson said, rubbing absently at where the gash on his side had been.

"Then why are you so afraid?" Frankie asked, coming to put her arms around Jackson's shoulders in a comforting gesture.

"I'm afraid because I'm the one who has no control. I'm not strong enough, quick enough, smart enough…just not enough." Jackson said. "It's not a fear of him and the fire, since in the nightmare, all that does is keep me from moving or talking – I didn't get around to saying that before Heath…" he sighed again, leaning into Frankie. He felt like this was far more than she needed to know about him for just getting back together again as boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Is this about you and Holt…and not being able to manage things between the two of you…like with me?" she asked, doing her best to understand. But if Jackson was like this before they left for this trip, then all the things that had happened since would have definitely made him subconsciously dwell on it again.

When he nodded, Frankie just rested her head on his shoulder. "I should have been there for you more when you first found out…I'm sorry." She said, shushing him when he went to speak. "I think you've really made progress with each other and there really isn't much more that I could, or should, expect for you to have done more. That's why you were so emotionally upset, and it led to being physically unable to help yourself too. But I'm here for you, and so is Heath." Frankie smiled at her boyfriend, making sure he understood that she wasn't here just out of some sense of obligation because of his injuries. She wanted to convey how she was willing to be with him, all of him as she had said a couple of nights ago, and that she was willing to put in the same effort as he had done for her.

"Do you think we should go looking for him?" Jackson asked.

"Let Abbey be the one to drag him back here. Besides, I'm hungry and going to get some lunch for us, okay?" she said, standing up once she was confident that he was going to stay put until she or the others got back. He nodded and leaned back into the chair, "Thanks Frankie". She smiled at him and walked away, hoping to find Heath and Abbey on their way back. As reluctant as she was to let him out of her sight, she knew he needed some time to be alone with his thoughts.

Luckily, she spotted Heath and Abbey having an animated discussion over by the vendor with ice cream, where Draculaura and her father were sitting and reading some brochure together. Walking over to them, she only heard the last bit of what Heath was saying as she walked up behind him.

"…now. He can't even see me without getting upset." He had said.

"That's not true and you know it." Frankie said, Heath twirling around as she startled him. "Please go sit with him. He's alone right now and would like you to go talk with him. It's not what you think."

Abbey gave him a push. "Go. We bring lunch. Double everything, I know..." she said, waving him away. Heath was reluctant to leave.

"What is it then?" he demanded of Frankie. Abbey gave his arm a pinch, earning a yelp from him. Abbey just pointed in the direction of the pool. "Go. Ask. Jackson." Her look was enough that Heath just huffed and made his way back to the pool.

"I thought girls supposed to be dramatic." Abbey said to Frankie, who ordered their food from the vendor. Frankie shrugged and they paid for their food, taking it over to sit by Draculaura and her father. "We should give them a minute." Frankie explained, to which Abbey nodded. They talked with Draculaura for another couple of minutes before deciding to head back. They saw the two cousins sitting together, but lunch was still awkwardly silent for one so outspoken as Heath. But, as the afternoon went on, the tension seemed to ease as they spent more time together.

"Come. We can spend more time with the ghouls. We haven't spent much time with them since we get back. We can be with them later." Abbey said, urging Frankie into the water again. Frankie took her friends' advice, and they enjoyed their time with the others. By dinnertime, they all made their way back to the cabin, Clawdeen making a quick exit to get to her date, denying it was a date to the girls and her brother who was teasing her about it.

"There's another local concert going on tonight. We could go to that tonight, end the trip the same way we started." Cleo suggested, to which it seemed Deuce and Ghoulia were the only ones eager to go with her.

"Sorry, Cleo, but Draculaura and I planned on taking advantage of the hotel's stargazing program tonight." Clawd said, aware of her father's eavesdropping on the conversation. "There's going to be a bunch of people just enjoying the way the triangle changes the way you can see the stars here." He added, to avoid any hostility from the Count – who no doubt would be discreetly joining them.

"There is movie showing at picnic area, with games and food." Abbey said. "Heath and I wanted to go there. Will be fun, you should come if you feel up to it – showing old movies." She said, directing her suggestion to Jackson and therefore Frankie. Frankie looked to Jackson sitting on the couch, knowing that he might want to just remain in the cabin for the last night. But with what happened with Heath, he was eager to prove that he wanted to spend time with his cousin.

"Sounds like a good way to end the trip." Jackson said, slowly standing up. "I'll try to get ready so I won't make you guys late."

"Alright, we'll head out then." Cleo said, walking toward the door latched to Deuce's arm and with Ghoulia trailing behind, wearing the hat she had gotten at the last concert. While she may not have her boyfriend to hang onto for the night, she still looked more than happy to be attending with her best friend and her boyfriend. She had been overwhelmed by Cleo's kindness lately, touched by how deep their friendship really went.

Clawd also went to get something from his room, Draculaura immediately turning around to try and convince her father not to join them. "I know you were at the boovies with us. And I really, really am glad you're here, but please, please, please let us go alone." Her father simply held up his hands, denying his intent to spy on his daughter. As the two of them walked out the door, she shot her father another look that she had clearly hoped was stern and intimidating. But once the door shut, Frankie, Heath and Abbey were amused to see Count Dracula chuckling.

"I may check in on them, later. But I have a date with the couch and a good game on tonight. Despite what she may tell you, I do trust my little ghoul to take care of herself. She knows what she's doing and if she doesn't, well…then, I can do something to terrify the boy." He said, getting up from the kitchen table with the magazine he had been reading. The three of them weren't sure exactly how to respond to that, so just kept smiles on their faces as he walked past to grab the remote for the television.

"Jackson?" Heath asked, knocking on their door. "You ready yet?" He opened the door a little to check on him, the girls standing over by the front door as they waited. Heath peeked in but then flung the door open and bolted inside, alarming both Abbey and Frankie. Dracula got up from his seat to check on them, motioning for the girls to stay by the door.

"What do you mean nothing's wrong? What were you doing on the floor?!" they heard Heath shout at Jackson.

"I dropped my phone when I took it off its charger. It's under the bed. I just bent over to grab it but got a little lightheaded, so I was just… waiting a sec to get it together." Jackson's voice echoed out to them.

"Everybody alright in here?" Dracula asked, finally entering the room to help Heath pick his cousin up off the floor. He checked over the boy to put the other at ease, assuring Heath that if Jackson said he was alright, then he likely was – he had always known there was something to that boy, even if it had slightly unnerved him at first. "You sure you want to be going to this thing tonight if you are lightheaded?" he asked Jackson.

Jackson nodded, pulling his pill bottle out of his pant pocket to let Heath know he was prepared. "Then you boys should head out. Your ladies are waiting." He said, supporting Jackson as he stood up.

"Thank you sir." Jackson said. Dracula nodded, directing his attention to Heath. "Look out for him" Heath nodded. "I intend to" he said, putting more meaning into the words that Jackson was able to pick up on. It seemed like they would be better off than earlier after all. Walking back into the common room, the boys were met with the anxious faces of Frankie and Abbey.

"Everything's good." Heath said, wrapping an arm around Jackson's shoulders. "Yeah. C'mon. Let's get going." Jackson said, giving his cousin a small smile as they waved goodbye to Dracula and headed out for one last night of their trip.

* * *

The train trip back was far less eventful than the one on the way out, Holt making another appearance since he was in a contained area to be watched over. But he and Jackson's injuries were getting much better so that he was able to throw together some music for them to party to like he had done on the way out. He lasted a good length of time before it started to bother him and he let the music switch over to something softer to transform back into Jackson.

Pulling into the station, they noticed immediately that their parents were all there, anxiously waiting to take them home and assure themselves that all was well with their children. Frankie was crushed by her parents almost as soon as she stepped off the train. Cleo was no better, having been swept away by her servants and into the carriage she was to take home with her father. It was understandable that he should be so forceful with getting to his daughter given the circumstances, and the others weren't too put off by the display of over-exaggeration that was typical of the de Niles.

Heath and Jackson exited the train together, Heath helping Jackson should he feel lightheaded again. The others, who had already had their parents smother them in concern mixed with irritation over not having been there or knowing of the danger they had been in on this trip, watched as one moment it was Dr. Jekyll and his wife standing on the platform calling out to Jackson and then it was swooping him up in his arms like a ragdoll in his typical unrestrained emotion. Heath was also swept up in his hug, with his parents watching on warily in their unease with how unpredictable Hydes could be, even when they meant well. Once released, Heath walked over shakily into his parents' arms, with his mother voicing loudly how proud she was of her son.

Waving goodbye, they parted ways to spend the night at home unpacking and telling everything again to their parents, happy to be home again. The next day was back to school, and despite the rare offer to sneak a day at home from their parents, just about everyone wanted a return to normalcy – or as normal as a day at Monster High could be. Jackson was understandably absent, as was Cleo. Meeting up in the lunchroom in their usual spot, the girls sat down to take their lunch break. Lagoona walked over to them with her tray after having talked a little with Gil.

"Aw, it's good to see ya' all again, mates. It seems ages ago since we talked." She said, taking a bite of her food. "So, what's up with Clawdeen?" she asked, tilting her head in the direction of the werewolf as she stood talking with Thad, who was helping her carry her tray over to their table from the lunch line. Draculaura bounced in her seat, eager to spill what she knew.

"Isn't it great! Sure, she'll say they aren't officially couple material, but they totally are headed that way!" Draculaura said, waving her hand. "They met up again over vacation."

Lagoona nodded, wondering why Cleo hadn't come back to school yet, or for that matter, Jackson. There had been quite the gossip about him before vacation and she hoped that things had turned out alright. But this was Monster High and even normies with their strange ways – even those half normies – were welcomed. Snapping herself out of her pondering, Lagoona decided to let the others bring it up.

"So, I had a good time seeing my parents again after so long. I got to frequent a few of my old watering hole haunts while I was there, seeing some of my old friends again. But to be honest, it was kinda boring." Lagoona said, poking around at her food. "What about you ghouls?"

The other girls just gave each other a knowing look, before Frankie said, "Let's just say, it was…any but boring."


End file.
